7:30 am, April 16, 2025
Polestar’s UK boss has hit out at the government’s decision to relax the ZEV Mandate calling it ‘frustrating’ and ‘kicks the can down the road’.
Earlier this month, the government reported the outcome of its consultation into the 2030 new petrol and diesel cars sales ban, announcing that the date will stay in place and hybrids will be allowed to be sold until 2035.
Additionally, the rules around hitting the strict ZEV Mandate were tweaked.
Among the changes are allowing manufacturers more time to borrow and bank credits, and slashing the fine imposed on carmakers for every car that misses the Mandate’s quota from £15,000 to £12,000.
Speaking to Car Dealer this week, Galvin vented his frustration at the government’s decision to tweak the Mandate.
The Polestar chief once again called for ministers to introduce incentives for consumers, which could range from a temporary halt on VAT on new EV car sales, and revising the expensive car supplement threshold to £52,000 to reflect inflation.
‘There’s no incentive whatsoever for a retail customer to transition from ice to electric,’ he told Car Dealer.
‘The relaxation of the ZEV Mandate last week, quite frankly, was really frustrating. I don’t think that relaxing the thresholds and allowing borrowing from future years [and extending this] to 2029 is healthy.
‘We’re kicking the can down the road and removing what was a really good roadmap to 80% of electric car sales by 2030. I really do fear that that relaxation is going to take everyone’s eye off the ball as a bit like a workshop hour.’
He added: ‘Once you’ve lost a workshop hour, you never catch it back. It’s the same in the same in the sales environment – if you’re 5% behind your ZEV Mandate target, you’re not going to catch it up. It’s gone, you’ve missed it.
‘Equally, allowing plug-in hybrids until 2035 feels a little bit weak. I think either we’ve got to support and really incentivise the transition to BEV (battery electric vehicle) cars by 2030 or relax it all and just say we’ll just wait till 2035. It’s just not very clear at the moment.’
Galvin went on to say: ‘What’s going to happen in 2029 when everyone has to catch up all of these borrowed under-performances? The market is going to be a disaster.
‘We talk about these £4.5bn-worth of discounts from carmakers to support electric car sales, what’s that figure going to be in 2029 when everyone has to catch back up? It’s not a sustainable road-map anymore, and from a consumer perspective it does send a lot of mixed messages.
‘The irony of me asking for incentives as the leader of an EV car brand is not lost on me! But, equally, I do genuinely believe in the greater good that this will result in.’
