Ford has long supported the UK’s push to phase out ICE-powered vehicles and replace them with EVs, and in fact, has even gone so far as to call for tougher standards in that regard as others work to ease them. However, as of late, EV sales in the UK have stalled out, meaning that Ford – and other automakers – could be looking at paying big fines. This year, the UK’s new zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate is set to begin to take effect, meaning that 22 percent of all new vehicle registrations from each automaker must consist of electric or fuel cell vehicles. Automakers that don’t hit that percentage can expect to receive some hefty fines of 15,000 pounds ($15,829 USD) per car sold, or 9,000 pounds ($10,931) for each van. As a result, Ford may simply halt sales of ICE vehicles in that country to avoid those fines, according to Financial Times.
“We can’t push EVs into the market against demand. We’re not going to pay penalties. We are not going to sell EVs at huge losses just to buy compliance,” Ford Europe Model e head Martin Sander explained. “The only alternative is to take our shipments of [engine] vehicles to the UK down and sell these vehicles somewhere else. I don’t know if consumers in the UK would like seeing [engine vehicle] prices going up.”
These comments come on the heels of Sander admitting that Ford will no longer adhere to its previously-set timeline of phasing out ICE vehicles in Europe by 2030, but in the UK, the automaker is facing a more complicated path given the aforementioned regulations. This year, automakers are required to achieve a 22 percent EV sales mix, a figure that is set to rise until it reaches 100 percent by 2030. In 2023, EV sales accounted for less than 17 percent of the total UK market, but remained flat year-over-year compared to 2022.
Regardless, Sander noted that the UK EV market is “in very early days,” noting that he’s “not worried at all” about consumers eventually warming up to electric vehicles,” adding that the arrival of more affordable models will help push consumers in that direction.
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Comments
Go woke, go broke!
Of course, the real losers there are the UK consumers. That will send both new and used ICE car prices through the roof.
😂😂😂😂……. WHATEVER….. WE CAN’T EVEN GET O T A UPDATES DONE “CORRECTLY BY FORD” IF AT ALL???? SO WHY SELL SOMETHING THAT YA CAN’T SUPPORT????
You can drive across the entire UK in one charge