11:12 am, October 2, 2024
Ford will not be restricting the supply of new petrol and diesel cars to its dealer partners in order to comply with the government’s eco targets.
That is the promise of the company’s UK boss, who has told Car Dealer that ‘government backed customer incentives’ are a better way to get drivers into EVs.
Lisa Brankin, Ford of Britain’s chair and managing director, says that dealers still want to sell ICE vehicles and Ford has no intention of standing in their way.
The comments come amid growing threats from Stellantis that it could pull the supply petrol and diesel models in order to comply with controversial ZEV mandate targets.
The much-debated government legislation requires a certain percentage of the sales of every car manufacturer to be electric, otherwise, firms will face financial penalties.
This year, the required percentage is 22 per cent, rising each year to 80 per cent in 2030.
Car makers unable to meet their targets will be fined, with the government proposing a £15,000 penalty for every non-electric car and £18,000 per non-electric van they miss their target by.
Vertu boss Robert Forrester recently accused manufacturers of limiting the supply of ICE Vehicles to dealers, but Brankin insists that is not the case at Ford.
She said: ‘We’ve got a network that wants to sell them [ICE vehicles] and we don’t want to restrict supply. At the end of each of those vehicles is a customer.
‘We know there are customers that want those vehicles.’
Brankin also added that the Blue Oval will ‘need customer incentives to drive demand’ towards electric vehicles and that it ‘can’t just depend on company car drivers’ to push forward registrations of EVs.
The Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes (VETS) Order, which will see a staggered approach in the years approaching the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars, was a big talking point for Brankin as she spoke to Car Dealer at the UK launch of the new Explorer in the New Forest, Hampshire.
Brankin also called for the plug-in van grant – which can take up to £5,000 off the cost of an electric van – to be retained, adding that ‘the incentives in place need to stay in place – we need to encourage businesses to take that step’.
She said: ‘Our really strong call at the moment to the UK government is if we want to collectively get to the 2030 target, we need to do something about driving customer demand.
‘We are well aware of the challenges. The Government’s green ambition is very bold and what we’re saying is that they need a bold demand solution to run alongside that in parallel.
‘You’re not going to get the bold green transition that you want without fiscal intervention as well.
‘We’re working as hard as we can to hit government incentives, but it’s really challenging when you don’t have customers who want to buy electric vehicles.’
