8:54 am, August 29, 2024
Vauxhall has become the first carmaker in the UK to offer an electric model for the same price as the equivalent petrol version.
The new Frontera will come with petrol-hybrid and electric powertrains when order books open in October. The British car brand has already priced up the new SUV and confirmed that electric versions will cost the same as petrol-hybrids – a UK first.
Both the electric and petrol-hybrid will start at £23,495 for the entry-level Design trim, ‘eliminating the price disparity that usually exists between electric and petrol versions of the same car for the first time in the UK car market’, Vauxhall said. Both petrol-hybrid and electric versions of the range-topping GS trim will start at £25,895.
That £23,495 starting prices means the Frontera will become one of the cheapest electric cars on sale when order books open, undercutting models such as the Fiat 500e and MG4.
Vauxhall said the average list price difference across the new car market between an EV and a petrol model is currently 31%.
The announcement comes a decade after Mitsubishi UK made headlines for pricing the then-new Outlander PHEV at the same level as the diesel-powered model. For years, the Outlander PHEV was Britain’s best-selling plug-in hybrid.
The Frontera is a more SUV-like replacement for the Crossland and is closely related to the new Citroen C3 Aircross.
For £23,495, the Frontera gets a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine mated to a 48-volt, 28bhp electric motor in the gearbox. Total power is 99bhp while a more powerful 134bhp version costs from £24,995.
The hybrid will come with a choice of five or seven seats, while the EV will be a five-seater only.
For the same price as the 99bhp petrol-hybrid, the electric Frontera gets a 112bhp on the front axle which is powered by a 44kWh battery. Vauxhall claims a range of 186 miles, while that will be extended to 248 miles with a ‘Long Range’ model that’s due to launch in 2025.
While electric and petrol versions of the Frontera will cost the same, the car industry is ‘a number of years away’ from achieving profit parity from each, Vauxhall boss James Taylor told Autocar.
The carmaker has also published details of a new survey it carried out which highlights calls from motorists for more on-street EV charging points.
Vauxhall said it received 13,000 registrations on over 11,500 streets across the UK during its Electric Streets of Britain campaign. Motorists want councils to install more EV charging points on local streets.
The firm will now collaborate with three chargepoint operators, including Char.gy, ConnectedKerb and Surecharge to not only share its findings with local councils up and down the country, but to also find workable solutions.
This initiative comes following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Vauxhall, which was issued to 414 councils across the country. A total of 267 responded and the results showed that 56.5% of local authorities still did not have a published on-street residential charging plan.
Announcing the survey’s findings, Taylor said: ‘On-street residential charging is critical to adoption and acceleration of electric vehicles. Thanks to the public, we already know of over 11,000 roads where we need to install on-street chargers today to make it more convenient for EV drivers and remove a barrier for those wanting to switch to electric.’
