Discounts, more launches of small cars and unlikely alliances are all viable tactics for those car makers least strong on EVs as they look to comply with the government order that states almost one in every four cars they sell next year must be electric.
Car makers have to boost demand from the average 16% EV share in the UK to the end of September to 22% next year or face fines of £15,000 for every car they are shy of the target.
Several brands – including Ford, Toyota, Suzuki, Mazda, Honda and Land Rover – recorded EV sales of between 0-3% of their total in the 12 months to the end of September, according to figures from market analysts Dataforce.
Without higher EV sales from sibling brands to offset their shortfall, these car makers will be in danger of having to shell out fines totalling millions if they can’t find a way sell more electric cars or offset the shortfall using some of the loopholes allowed by the government order.
The so-called zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate technically includes any zero-CO2-emission vehicle as measured at the tailpipe, which includes fuel-cell-powered vehicles. However, given the lack of an alternative, effectively it’s an order to sell more battery-electric cars.
The problem for car makers is that three-quarters of all EV sales to the end of September went to fleets, with private sales actually falling 14% in September. With minimal incentives available, private buyers are still not convinced in large enough numbers to pay higher prices for EVs.
“There’s not 22% of demand out there,” one senior automotive executive said, on condition of anonymity.
Car makers have called for a return of subsidies for private buyers to boost sales away from fleets. Manufacturers without strong EV sales will have to deploy a range of strategies or face fines, something that every company Autocar spoke to said they were keen to avoid.
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