Speaking at the 10th annual Financial Times Future of the Car Summit this week, Martin Sander, General Manager, Ford Model eEurope, suggested that Ford were prepared to restrict the sale of ICE vehicles in the UK to ensure they hit the UK’s EV targets.
Martin Sander
He said that to avoid crippling fines under the UK’s EV quota rules, they were prepared to divert sales to other countries. “We can’t push EVs into the market against demand. We’re not going to pay penalties. We are not going to sell EVs at huge losses just to buy compliance. The only alternative is to take our shipments of [engine] vehicles to the UK down and sell these vehicles somewhere else.”
Currently the fines are set at £15,000 per vehicle that misses the target.
The UK’s EV quota rules means that 22% of vehicle sales must be EVs and this rate rises every year to 2030 when EV sales must be 80% or more and 100% by 2035.
While these targets ar challenging, Ford is the only manufacturer openly suggesting a restriction on petrol/diesel vehicle sales.
UK transport decarbonisation minister Anthony Browne said the EV market was in its early stages and felt that cheaper vehicles from established manufacturers and the new brands located in Asia and China would help drive the customer into electric vehicles.
However, Sander was more downbeat. “Demand is behind our expectations now and we are not hitting our ambitious targets. Everyone is getting extremely nervous,” Sander said.
“It’s irrelevant if [the EV-only date] is going to be in 2030 or 2035. The trajectory is clear.”
He added: “We are committed to zero emissions . . . We just need to be reasonable about it and together find a way to manage to get to net zero in a profitable way.”
Peugeot chief executive Linda Jackson said the company plan to sell only electric vehicles in Europe by 2030. “As a manufacturer we have to meet it. There is no way that we will pay penalties, not from an ethical point of view nor from a business point of view.”
