Proactive Investors - Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has said it is ready to cut petrol car sales in order to avoid fines under the UK’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.
Such moves from manufacturers could lead to higher prices, Ford European electric vehicle (EV) boss Martin Sander warned, but may well be the only way to avoid penalties.
An increasing proportion of cars sold by manufacturers annually in the UK will have to be EVs under government rules, equating to 80% by 2030 and 100% come 2035.
This is as the UK looks to gradually phase out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in a wider shift to net zero.
Sander warned that manufacturers could be left simply cutting the supply of internal combustion engine (NYSE:ICE) cars though, in order to artificially meet the mandate as EV demand stagnates.
“It’s really important for politicians to monitor what is going on and that the ZEV targets, this year, next year, going forward, are roughly in line with consumer demand,” he said.
“This is what we need. You cannot push vehicles into the market against demand.”
His warning comes after trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Tuesday that battery EV sales were being entirely held up by businesses buying for fleets as private demand falls.
“Urgent action is needed to re-enthuse private buyers into switching,” the group said, adding that “fewer than one in six new battery electric vehicles bought in April went to consumers”.
Sander added Ford was “not going to pay penalties” if demand for EVs was not there.
“The only alternative is to take our shipments of ICE vehicles to the UK down and sell them somewhere else,” he said.
“I don’t know if consumers will like seeing the ICE prices going up.”