UK carmakers claimed leaving EV sales rules unchanged would cost jobs and investment | Automotive industry
Motor manufacturers have said that leaving rules for the sale of unchanged electric cars would threaten British jobs and cost them hundreds of millions of pounds, according to documents that show private lobbying for a slower transition from fossil fuels.
BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan and Toyota said that rules forcing them to sell more electric cars each year harm investment in the United Kingdom, depending on the responses to the changes offered to the government. The responses were obtained by Fast load, a newsletter covering electric cars and shared with the Guardian.
JLR, the Maker Land Rover, said that leaving the unchanged rules “would materially damage the capacity of British producers to invest in vehicle lines”.
The last conservative government said last year that car manufacturers were to sell an increasing proportion of electric cars each year, or in front of steep fines, under the rules known as zero emission vehicle mandate (ZEV).
Sales of electric cars increased rapidly, representing more than a fifth of the market in July, and each car manufacturer complied with the targets last year. However, car manufacturers overestimated the demand for battery vehicles earlier, which means that they have been forced to reduce prices to attract buyers.
The drop in prices is good for consumers, but the industry has argued that they are not durable. After intensive lobbying, the government of work fell in April, adding new “flexibilities” to rules that will allow car manufacturers to sell more petrol cars.
Consultation responses reveal the detailed arguments that car manufacturers have made in favor of Clemence, despite the advice of the government’s official climate advisor that changes could increase carbon emissions in the United Kingdom.
The German manufacturer BMW said that the United Kingdom had worsened for manufacturing from Brexit, but added that the mandate of the ZEV was “much more radical and large-scale” than the equivalent rules of the EU or California.
BMW, which manufactures mini and Rolls-Royce cars in Great Britain, wrote: “The United Kingdom has already become a much more difficult place to produce vehicles now after Brexit, and another difficult market environment could ultimately damage competitiveness and have a harmful effect on 8,000 jobs-up to 50,000 people with a supply chain-we are currently keeping in the United Kingdom.”
The Toyota of Japan, which manages factories in the Derbyshire and in the north of the Wales, said that “penalties could represent hundreds of millions of pounds for individual manufacturers, a level that could place employment and investment in industry in danger.” The largest car manufacturer in the world in volume has focused on hybrid cars, combining a smaller battery and a petrol engine, and has successfully pressure so that hybrid sales were authorized until 2035 in the United Kingdom.
Its Japanese rival Nissan, whose only European factory is in Sunderland, said that car manufacturers needed more flexibilities or are confronted at “critical levels” of costs that would divert money “far from research and development of the EV battery in the United Kingdom”.
JLR, which has the most British factories, complained that a rule that allowed car manufacturers to buy “credits” from competitors whose sales of electric cars were greater than British companies subsidized competitors, especially in China, which dominates the production of electric cars.
However, activists counted that the rules were working by forcing car manufacturers to become electric.
Ben Nelmes, the director general of New Automotive, a group advocating the transition to electric vehicles, said: “The consultation responses of the automotive industry confirm that the objectives of the ZEV mandate in 2024 have been achieved, proving that policy is a powerful engine of change.
“The objective should now go to the acceleration of the transition, as these data show that the British automotive industry is capable of providing more expensive and cleaner transport.”
After promoting the newsletter
Tom Riley, the author of The Fast Charge Newsletter, said: “Car manufacturers like to agitate the Union Jack when that suits them, but threatening British jobs and investment to weaken climate policy is a cynical tactic.”
Mike Hawes, managing director of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a group of lobbies, said: “The automotive industry is faced with unprecedented challenges. unsustainable and threaten new investments.
He said the government was right to modify previous objectives, which would have meant “decarbonization at the price of deindustrialisation”.
A spokesperson for the BMW said that society supports British and global climatic objectives, but added: “We believe that consumers will finally determine the transition rate to ZEVs, because the mandates do not create demand.”
A spokesperson for Nissan said: “We congratulate ourselves on the pragmatic approach of the government of the taking of electric vehicle lower than it, in particular the introduction of consumer incentives designed to bring the requirements of the mandate of the ZEV.”
JLR and Toyota refused to comment.
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