3:04 pm, October 2, 2023
The ZEV mandate has continued to keep tongues wagging – especially on the Car Dealer Podcast – as more details of new targets have been released by the government.
It announced last week that car makers would need to ensure 22 per cent of cars sold next year are pure electric with this reaching 80 per cent by 2030, and then it’ll be 100 per cent of new car sales by the 2035 deadline.
Jato’s head of Sales Link, Paul Hilton, explained on the podcast that he wouldn’t be surprised if the uptake of electric vehicles was more than 80 per cent by 2030.
‘We do a lot of data with the OEMs and they are years in advance in their planning and their strategies so you know, these decisions have been made,’ Hilton said.
‘If there’s another change in government, if there’s another change in policy, the OEMs can’t afford to be shifting back and forth in terms of their planning but strategies at a factory level and at a battery production level; these orders have to be placed years in advance. It’s the same for the people, the materials, the minerals and the things that are needed to produce this sort of stuff. So I don’t think it’s, it’s particularly helpful.
The added: ‘The other point I think worth making is that who buys a petrol car in 2030 when they come to sell that vehicle in 2035 or before, it becomes a lot less valuable if the ban has gone through.
‘So, I think the acceleration towards EV will just continue between now and 2030 anyway, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was even above 80 per cent by the deadline.’
Hilton joined Car Dealer’s Jon Reay and James Batchelor on the latest episode of the podcast, and you can listen to the whole show by clicking play below.
Nissan also reaffirmed its position that it would be only releasing electric vehicles from now on in Europe, despite the delay to the 2030 deadline.
Hilton commented: ‘Nissan have invested hugely post Brexit in UK manufacturing and the manufacturing of electric vehicles at their plant in Sunderland. So, you know, they’ve already been geared up for this.
‘So change for them, even a slowdown of it or delay to it, or a reduction of the number of vehicles would mean a complete change to the way they manufacture cars, not just here, but across Europe.
‘I think they’re right to say, look, we’ve already put our plans in place and we’ll stay on course with that. Whether that will happen, of course, based on consumer sentiment towards driving a fully electric Qashqai, that’s then down to the government to continue to put the right incentives in place around charge points, and so on.’
The Jato Dynamics boss added that new Chinese brands surfacing in the UK will continue to put pressure on the traditional manufacturers too with their more affordable models.
‘There’s an incentive gradually making its way from the east though, right,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of affordable electric car products entering the European market from the Chinese brands. That is creating a more accessible electric car product for a lot of UK and European consumers.
‘That’s going to put a lot of pressure on the established brands to still be attractive for those shoppers as well.
‘I think we’ve got that coming but the issue, I think sits around the infrastructure and the readiness.’
You can find the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more every Friday.
