Labour rejects desperate calls to make urgent car | Tech News
The Labour Government has rejected pleas from the UK motoring industry to tweak upcoming electric car gross sales targets because the UK’s petrol and diesel car ban edges nearer. Kier Mather, minister for aviation, maritime and decarbonisation, defined that a review into the targets gained’t be pushed ahead.
Kier’s response got here simply moments after Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief govt Mike Hawes, referred to as for the review to be introduced ahead. It represents a disconnect between policymakers and industry consultants and dangers derailing the UK’s electric car transition.
A new report from the Department for Transport (DfT) reveals that car corporations met the UK’s electric car gross sales targets in 2024, set at 22% of whole manufacturing. But, producers will need to guarantee at the very least 33% of fashions registered are zero-emission by the top of 2026, with targets considerably rising yearly.
Mike described the present EV gross sales targets as “fantasy” and warned that pushing forward with targets might be perilous for UK manufacturing. The SMMT boss warned that no one within the industry believes the targets will likely be met, whereas producers have been additionally beneath risk.
Mike mentioned: “The UK’s EV transition pathway was conceived with the best of intentions – but the assumptions behind it have proved over-ambitious. A landscape which once looked solid has turned out to be quicksand. Recognising the world of 2026 is not the one envisaged five years ago is not a retreat from ambition; it is a necessary step to achieving it.
“We need an urgent review that reflects today’s realities, that delivers decarbonisation not deindustrialisation and offers consumers the choice they have always expected.”
Martin Sander, head of sales at Volkswagen, warned that firms were having to discount EVs to ensure strict sales targets were met.
Kier said: “It is beginning this year, but early 2027, we feel, is the right point to make sure that we can test properly where the pressure points lie in the ZEV mandate and make sure that it continues to work for manufacturers.
“The government is incredibly clear that the EV transition is something that we stand resolutely behind.”
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