Vauxhall slashes EV prices to help drivers save | Tech News

Vauxhall has introduced appreciable price cuts to its electric car vary in a bid to help drivers keep away from paying more than £2,000 in highway tax during their first six years behind the wheel. The DVLA’s tax modifications have come into impact, with all electric car house owners now subject to pay an annual charge of £195 – the identical charge utilized to petrol, diesel, and hybrid fashions.

However, Eurig Druce, managing director of Vauxhall, highlighted that the well-known car model has decreased its prices for electric automobiles to help drivers keep away from having to pay the extra costly car complement. He stated: “With electric cars no longer exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), Vauxhall is making electric mobility accessible and affordable for British drivers.

“The Vauxhall electric car vary* now sits under the £40,000 costly car complement threshold, saving prospects some £2,125 in highway tax over the primary few years of possession.”

In addition to the standard VED rate of £195 per year, new car buyers who choose an electric model with a retail price of more than £40,000 will need to pay the expensive car supplement.

Paid from the second to sixth year that the vehicle is on the UK roads, the supplement’s £425 cost brings the total amount that some EV owners will be charged up to a staggering £620.

A number of motoring experts urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to make EVs exempt from the expensive car supplement during the Spring Budget, warning that the move could see demand for electric models over £40,000 plummet.

In a bid to help drivers save £2,125 in road tax, all variants of Vauxhall’s electric vehicle range (excluding the Vivaro Life minivan) have been reduced in price to under £40,000.

This includes the new second-generation Grandland SUV, with the entry-level variant priced from £37,345, and the practical Astra Sports Tourer estate car – starting at £36,145.

The company also recently caused a stir when it revealed that the mild hybrid and fully-electric variants of the Frontera compact crossover feature the identical entry-level price of £23,495.

Whilst Vauxhall, and the Stellantis-owned performance brand Abarth, have both slashed prices to avoid the additional charge, Eurig called on the Government to raise the expensive car supplement’s threshold in line with the current inflation rate.

He added: “The threshold for the costly car complement has remained at £40,000 since inception in 2017 regardless of subsequent high ranges of inflation – if it have been to have risen with inflation it could now be round £52,000.

“With the average price of an EV in the UK at around £48,000, this new tax means that customers buying some of the more attainable electric cars on the market are now being penalised whilst at the same time we are trying to move as many British motorists to electric as quickly as possible.”