by Will Jones
Car makers are rationing sales of petrol and hybrid vehicles in Britain to avoid hefty Net Zero fines, according to one of the country’s biggest dealership chains. The Telegraph has the story.
Robert Forrester, Chief Executive of Vertu Motors, said manufacturers were delaying deliveries of cars until next year amid fears they will otherwise breach quotas set for them by the Government.
This means someone ordering a car today at some dealerships will not receive it until February, he said.
At the same time, Mr. Forrester warned manufacturers and dealers were grappling with a glut of more expensive electric vehicles (EVs) that are “not easily finding homes”.
He said: “In some franchises there’s a restriction on supply of petrol cars and hybrid cars, which is actually where the demand is.
“It’s almost as if we can’t supply the cars that people want, but we’ve got plenty of the cars that maybe they don’t want.
“They [manufacturers] are trying to avoid the fines. So they’re constraining the ability for us to supply petrol cars in order to try and keep to the Government targets.”
The Chief Executive blamed the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires at least 22% of cars sold by manufacturers to be electric from this year.
This target will gradually rise each year before reaching 80% in 2030, with manufacturers made to pay £15,000 for every petrol car that exceeds their quota – unless they have so-called carbon credits to spend.
But the scheme has prompted stark warnings from bosses at major brands, such as Vauxhall owner Stellantis and Ford, which have said they cannot sacrifice profits by selling EVs at large discounts indefinitely.
Instead, they have previously warned they may be forced to restrict petrol car supplies to artificially boost their ZEV mandate performance.
The warning from Vertu is the first confirmation that carmakers have now begun doing so….
Mr. Forrester said: “What the Government’s actually doing is constraining the new car market, which has a big impact on VAT receipts for them, and creates a business environment in the U.K. where manufacturers may question whether they want to make cars here.
“As Carlos Tavares [chief executive of Stellantis] has said, why should they sell cars at a loss because of U.K. Government policy?
“The new car market is no longer a market, unfortunately. It’s a state-imposed supply chain.”
Worth reading in full.
Welcome to the insane world of Britain today. The last British government was walking towards the edge of the cliff with all of the other lemmings. Our new government is now sprinting towards the edge of the cliff in its mad aim to be the leading lemming. Unfortunately, virtually all of the British media is supporting this dash to the cliff edge. The British public is still blissfully unaware of the catastrophe which is unfolding in Britain today because of the extraordinary amount of climate alarmist propaganda which is being shoved down everybody’s throat on a daily basis by the mass media.
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Duck test says it looks like communism
I’d have suggested a different -ism, but mine is no better than yours.
Whatever. Dirigistes never get it close to right and nightmares always ensue.
I hear China manufactures
inexpensivecheap EVs though I wouldn’t want to be caught on the autobahn driving a crappy EV with a top speed of 24mph/38kph and have a fast approaching Bugatti on my 6Bugattis? They’re solving that problem for you.
Get hit by a Bugatti while driving a mini and they’ll clear you from the road with a Cooper Scooper
Learn a new word every day.
“. . . it looks like communism.”
Where is Joe McCarthy when you need him?
The funny thing is that McCarthy was apparently right all along…
And as a Senator, he had nothing to do with the House committee on Un-American Activities.
We should build a big wall around London. Like East Germany. Then in 30 years or so, we could knock it down and save them all.
The word is starting to spread, the Telegraph is turning heavily against net-zero, the Mail is going the same way, I imagine the other right-leaning outlets will follow, because the facts are this is simply the truth.
One bit of good news from all of this, once people realize they can no longer afford a car, maybe the word will start spreading faster.
I don’t know, they still publish a lot of pro green nonsense.
I’d say they have the fence jammed up their collective fundament
BREAKING NEWS:
Volvo Cars ditches pledge to sell only electric cars by 2030
https://on.ft.com/4ecJbvs
It looks as if green dreams are starting to hit the hard wall of reality.
Inevitably.
Command economics guarantee disaster – we ain’t seen nothing yet 🤡
But Volvo is owned by the Chinese.
?????
I had considered trading in my 2017 Fiat Tipo for a smaller vehicle, but I changed my mind simply because the vehicle I have is low mileage (h/t Sadiq Khan and his coat of many charges) and in excellent condition.
If you’re going to spot an EV, there’s no better place than London. And there aren’t that many, considering all the company cars, fleets and wealthier individuals as a market are relatively saturated. And there’s worse to come. Given numbers aren’t increasing, they will be a rump.
EVs pick up the full tax treatment (bar electricity) next year and in addition, this year there is the new “luxury car” tax: Under the Expensive Car Supplement, cars that cost over £40,000 when new pay an additional £410 annually for five years starting from the first VED car tax payment that’s made when the car is a year old.
Not many EVs come in much cheaper. And what of the fuel? Petrol and diesel are big money attracting not only fuel tax, but VAT on top of that. And that will decline by government diktat. Of course, they never learn anything, they just double down
“”Public transport charity Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) is proposing that drivers of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), such as electric cars, should be charged based on how far they travel, claiming it would have public support.
Under the plan, drivers with a ZEV before the implementation date would be exempt, incentivising the switch to electric vehicles.“”
https://news.sky.com/story/chancellor-rachel-reeves-urged-to-impose-pay-per-mile-scheme-on-electric-cars-13208793
More subsidy in the hope. And it really is a forlorn hope. Your average working geezer will not readily give up what works. They can’t afford to.
Pay per mile for EV’s is an excellent idea. Perhaps the Chancellor will see it as a way to fill the £20B black hole?
If they get it through for EVs, they’ll extend it to all other vehicles in short order. British governments have been trying to implement a per-mile charging since the 90s.
I had considered trading in my 2017 Fiat Tipo for a smaller vehicle
Thing that matters is vehicle age and life expectancy in 2029 or 2030. You don’t want to be obliged to get a replacement then, the used market will have shrunk and there will be lots of demand. Trade in for a three year old one now, 2021 year, and you can reasonably expect to get 15 years out of it, more from a long lived make like Toyota, so that gets you well into the thirties, by when maybe green mania will have ended.
The counter argument would be that one way or another everyone is going to be forced to go electric, and this will happen in a variety of ways, could be higher road tax, could be higher per mile charges, could be higher fuel tax. So this argument says drive the present one into the ground and then get electric when forced to. This argument would be that a replacement ICE or mild hybrid now is a bad bet.
Don’t know. My older neighbor after much hesitation took the first course, and I think it was probably right, but his car was older, so he had more chance of being forced to replace in the final years of ICE or early EV only years.
I have it all worked out. As I said the condition is excellent – it has at least another 15 years in it.
I had a Panda that was well over 20 before the cam chain totalled the block.
Affordable gasoline might be the fly in the ointment. A huge per gallon tax can be expected if they want to get all the ICE vehicles off the road. I would stockpile gasoline but keeping it “fresh” becomes an issue (and the added risk if there were a fire).
“The counter argument would be that” nobody knows the future.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee in it’s 2022 report noted that revenue from Fuel Duty and Vehicle Excise Duty (Road Tax) brought in £37 bn in 2019 -20 and if the current system whereby EVs were exempt from these charges were to remain unchanged receipts would reduce towards zero over the next 20 years.
Why don’t you trade it in for a roller skate?
My, I am so pleased to have just taken delivery of a new petrol ICE small SUV which will see me out, regardless of Government action in either France or UK. Now in my 80’s I have no intention of buying an EV or Hybrid car and believe that this new, very comfortable vehicle will last me for the next 8 to 10 years.
I want an economic vehicle that will take me from my home in SW France to the Channel Tunnel with just one refueling stop prior Tunnel Transit and overnight in a low cost high quality Premier Inn near Folkstone.
Notice the Telegraph has this report behind a paywall. If it were such important news that all the public should know why is this not available to the public. I also notice this with many sensational climate alarmist articles. We are given the headline and nothing more. If these publishers believed that we were facing the demise of mankind because of climate change, I would think them morally bound to make these articles freely available to all people. But clearly they have no morals so I doubt I can trust their alarmism.
Some pay walls are fallible, like the Telegraph’s. When the page is loading there is time to copy and paste it to notepad etc before the paywall dialog is displayed…
“”Car makers are rationing sales of petrol and hybrid vehicles in Britain to avoid hefty net zero fines, according to one of the country’s biggest dealership chains.
Robert Forrester, chief executive of Vertu Motors, said manufacturers were delaying deliveries of cars until next year amid fears they will otherwise breach quotas set for them by the Government.
This means someone ordering a car today at some dealerships will not receive it until February, he said.
At the same time, Mr Forrester warned manufacturers and dealers were grappling with a glut of more expensive electric vehicles (EVs) that are “not easily finding homes”.
He said: “In some franchises there’s a restriction on supply of petrol cars and hybrid cars, which is actually where the demand is.
“It’s almost as if we can’t supply the cars that people want, but we’ve got plenty of the cars that maybe they don’t want.
“They [manufacturers] are trying to avoid the fines. So they’re constraining the ability for us to supply petrol cars in order to try and keep to the government targets.”
The chief executive blamed the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires at least 22pc of cars sold by manufacturers to be electric from this year.
This target will gradually rise each year before reaching 80pc in 2030, with manufacturers made to pay £15,000 for every petrol car that exceeds their quota – unless they have so-called carbon credits to spend.
But the scheme has prompted stark warnings from bosses at major brands, such as Vauxhall owner Stellantis and Ford, which have said they cannot sacrifice profits by selling EVs at large discounts indefinitely.
Instead, they have previously warned they may be forced to restrict petrol car supplies to artificially boost their ZEV mandate performance.
The warning from Vertu is the first confirmation that carmakers have now begun doing so.
Mr Forrester added that although some people might cheer falling electric car prices, supporters of the ZEV mandate in its current form were “economic buffoons, because car manufacturers are being forced to discount EVs to such an extent that they’re making losses… and that is not a good thing for business”.
He said: “What the Government’s actually doing is constraining the new car market, which has a big impact on VAT receipts for them, and creates a business environment in the UK where manufacturers may question whether they want to make cars here.
“As Carlos Tavares [chief executive of Stellantis] has said, why should they sell cars at a loss because of UK government policy?
“The new car market is no longer a market, unfortunately. It’s a state-imposed supply chain.”
His comments came as Vertu said it expected lower first half profits as demand for new cars and more expensive electric vehicles remained under pressure. The group, which has 192 showrooms and after-sales sites across the UK, said new car sales by volume fell 5.8pc in the five months to July 31.
By contrast, Vertu says there is strong demand for used cars with September expected to be a particularly busy month.
Mr Forrester’s warning comes after the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which represents car makers, slashed its forecast for electric car sales this year amid the ongoing slowdown in demand.
The group now predicts electric vehicles (EVs) will account for 18.5pc of the new car market in 2024, down from an earlier prediction of 19.8pc.
EV registrations surged higher in July but sales to private consumers continued to slump.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said the weakening demand for EVs among private consumers – despite heavy discounting by car makers – remained the industry’s “overriding concern”.
No charge!
I have been using that trick for some time, although I use ‘print screen’ and paste into powerpoint so I get pictures and graphs too. I didn’t suggest it (sorry folks!) in case the Telegraph got wise.I have found that occasionally when I hit ‘PrtScr’ it screws up the paywall block and I can read at leisure, I haven’t worked out why though.
They would say, you want the news, maybe you should consider subscribing. They would say, we are a reporting, not a campaigning organization.
The report seems to be correct, well sourced. There is no doubt what the quotas on EVs are, or about what the penalties are. Demand figures come from industry sources and are not open to dispute.
What is happening is not open to dispute. The question is what the longer term consequences will be – political, economic, social.
I would say the same.
The trick is to find news to pay for. Far too many media organizations buy “oven-ready” press releases from campaigning groups and present it as their own work.
Neither the Telegraph nor any other publication that costs money to produce is going to give its product away free. I don’t begrudge them their price. But they need to be selling me independent news, not just access to someone’s press release put out in service of an undisclosed agenda.
I don’t know how the Telegraph does in this respect. I just try to read widely and hope to get diverse views. If I see the same phrase several times in different places I know what happened.
Story tip
Climate change news. Gaza edition.
“Greta Thunberg continues to branch out into other areas of leftist politics, and has been arrested at the University of Copenhagen on a Palestine demonstration.””
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/09/04/greta-thunberg-arrested-at-copenhagen-palestine-protest/
Still hasn’t gone back to school….
You can’t go back to where you never were in the first place…..
Greta’s full-throated switch to trying to rid the world of its Jewish population was predictable.
Sure, because government interference in markets has always been so successful.
Clearly, the only thing left for the UK govt to do is to nationalize all vehicle production on Airstrip One. Consolidate and rationalize all vehicle production, discarding any socially undesirable or inefficient elements, and then design and produce an adequate set of vehicles that are suitable for the transportation system that the government deems to be appropriate and equitable.
How could anyone object to such a rational solution? (/sarc)
You will have nothing and you will be happy. Walking will help with weight control. /s
“nationalize all vehicle production”
Does UK produce vehicles?
Answering my own semi sarcastic question: “Car Production in the United Kingdom increased to 65478 Units in July from 62231 Units in June of 2024.”
vs 9 million Toyotas in 2024.
Unfair to compare a monthly number to a yearly number so lets say it’s less than 1 percent.
The most important thing peoples of the world need to understand is saving the planet and not where all the green jobs are as we’re all in this great transition together-
VW could close down plants for first time (msn.com)
Oh and you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
Certainly cracking open a few eggs to cook an omelet is a necessary step, but must we break the planet to save it?
And eventually the grocery stores will have shelves full of bugs and weeds while people wanting real food starve. Pensioners will shiver in front of pictures of a fireplace while they die of cold.
You will have nothing and you will be happy.
Which is code for “dead” in WEF parlance.
It therefore fits their objective that 75% of we who make up the world’s population should “have nothing and be happy”.
Not even a pulse.
Started with a book called, I believe, The Population Bomb, 1968, Paul R. Ehrlich.
The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate…
This had it’s roots in publications dating back to 1948.
Not that I trust Wiki, but here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb#General_description_of_the_book
Given 2B people was considered the maximum sustainable by the planet, reducing 8B to 2B is 75%. Spot on.
The UK, EU, Australia, and Canada have been taken over by Marxists and they are working on the USA.
The other insanity that may hit the UK is a ban on replacement of home heating and hot water boilers with like for like. The plan of the last government was to ban the replacement of oil boilers from 2025. Sunak abandoned that, but Miliband could reinstate it – it would be in line with his generally fanatical approach to these matters. This is a couple million homes (85% of UK homes are gas heated), so not a big voting block, and most of them are rural and so not core Labour voters. Then there is the ban on replacing gas boilers, which the previous government intended to take place in 2035.
The advice to UK rural dwellers must be, buy yourselves a recent model long lived ICE or mild hybrid car, while you still can. And replace your oil boiler while you still can. Because its a cold hard rain that’s going to fall.
Yet another example of how corrupt and ignorant government is. Government crimes must be stopped.
“This target will gradually rise each year before reaching 80% in 2030, with manufacturers made to pay £15,000 for every petrol car that exceeds their quota – unless they have so-called carbon credits to spend. “
*What is the defn of ‘EV car’? Can it be a one seater piece of crap … “Cost of new (real) car is now MSRP + 10%, and you get to buy (required to buy) a $4,000 piece of shit one seater golf cart EV with a range of 8 miles for for $1.”
*Does it have to be a brand new EV meet the quota? What is the defn of new? Can I create a secondary market for EV’s, re-inspect them, re-certify them, and sell ’em back to the dealers?
*How do leases come into play with the current 20% quota? I lease 124 EV’s, as a friend of the dealer, and somehow I default on the lease before I even drive the cars … are they still new?
Where does the 15,000 fine go?
Get it directed to something worthwhile, and don’t allow it to go to enforcement or any proliferating govt activities.
You really couldn’t make it up. My old Volvo goes up in price every day.