ICE car sales are being throttled by manufacturers in a bid to hit stringent new retail laws, with some deliveries delayed until next year, according to the boss of one of the UK’s biggest dealer groups.
These UK government targets, under the ZEV mandate, require a 22% EV sales mix per manufacturer in 2024 – rising each year to 80% in 2030 – and threaten fines of £15,000 per non-compliant vehicle.
To avoid these fines, manufacturers are “constraining the ability for [dealers] to supply petrol cars in order to try and keep to the government targets”, Robert Forrester, CEO of Vertu Motors, told The Telegraph.
He claimed this was creating a "a state-imposed supply chain".
This is the first confirmation of manufacturers holding back ICE cars to hit targets to artificially boost their EV sales mixes.
“In some franchises, there’s a restriction on supply of petrol cars and hybrid cars, which is actually where the demand is," Forrester said. "It’s almost as if we can’t supply the cars that people want, but we’ve got plenty of the cars that maybe they don’t want.”
He added: “Car manufacturers are being forced to discount EVs to such an extent that they’re making losses, and that is not a good thing for business.”
The way forward, Forrester opined, is to incentivise the buying of EVs, echoing calls made from senior figures from across the automotive industry.
If not, issues will inevitably arise, he claimed, citing Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares's recent threat of pulling production out of the UK.
“What the government’s actually doing is constraining the new car market, which has a big impact on VAT receipts for them, and creates a business environment in the UK where manufacturers may question whether they want to make cars here," said For
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