10:20 am, February 11, 2025
Car dealers want the government to water down ZEV mandate targets as part of its ongoing consultation on regulations, a new survey has found.
Data collected for Startline Motor Finance found that over half (51%) of car dealers believe that lowering the targets should be the biggest result of the review.
Startline’s February Used Car Tracker also revealed an appetite among retailers for keeping hybrids on sale for longer than currently planned, with just under half (47%) naming the issue among their priorities.
Other desired outcomes included interest free loans for consumers buying electric cars (43%), and lowering of the £15,000 per vehicle fine if manufacturers miss targets (41%).
There were also suggestions that EVs built in the UK should be included in production totals, even if they are exported, which was raised by 34% of dealers.
Others wanted manufacturer targets to combine combine electric car and van sales (28%) and looser rules that enable manufacturers to trade credits (16%).
Reacting to the findings, Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said: ‘The main change dealers really want from the consultation – a general relaxation of the ZEV Mandate targets – is the one thing that the government has already ruled out, so disappointment seems inevitable.
‘However, other ideas that have been floated in the media and elsewhere suggest that there could be some potential common ground, such as the introduction of interest free loans for used electric cars and lowering of the £15,000 fine.
‘The danger is that the government ends up introducing a range of measures that move the dial on used electric car adoption only marginally when it seems that the motor industry is looking for a more radical revision.’
Despite clearly wanting changes, only 12% of dealers backed the idea of scrapping the ZEV mandate altogether.
Burgess added: ‘In a way, this is the most interesting finding from this research.
‘It suggests that dealers recognise the need for the ZEV Mandate and electrification in general. Relatively few think that the whole strategy should be abandoned.’
The poll, carried out by APD Global Research, surveyed almost 60 dealers, and over 300 consumers, as part of the Startline Used Car Tracker.
