Law to limit petrol car sales is ‘terrible for the UK’, warns Vauxhall maker
By Paul Homewood
From The Telegraph:
The net zero crackdown on combustion engines could force the maker of Vauxhall to scale back its presence in Britain, its boss has warned.
Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Stellantis, said that a law to limit petrol car sales was “terrible for the UK” and would force manufacturers to sell vehicles at a loss.
If ministers did not make urgent changes to the rules, he suggested Stellantis could be required to slash the number of cars it sells in Britain – and refused to rule out halting sales of some models altogether.
A source close to the company said the more likely option was that sales could be restricted or that it would be forced to put up prices to compensate.
Asked whether the maker of Vauxhall and Citroën cars could stop selling models in the UK, he replied: “I’m not going to sell cars at a loss.”
This is exactly as I predicted last year.
Motor manufacturers cannot afford the punitive fines imposed by ZEVs, leaving no alternative but to cut back on production of ICE cars, coupled with a price increase.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
As old cars expire and new ones not available, the UK will (logarithmetically) reach its no-CO2 goal. Congratulations!
no it won’t. There’s no chance that road haulage can be electrified
We just keep our old petrol cars running. Just finishing a refit of a 1983 VW campervan. Its done 40yrs and should now be fit for 40yrs more.
My old massey 1990s diesel tractor is ticking over ok. Refit in 10yrs i guess.
bobn, the EU already have plans in the pipeline to ensure all the old ICE vehicles will be gone in the next ten to fifteen years. Check out the “Fit for 55” plan:
https://euroweeklynews.com/2024/01/12/eus-controversial-car-laws-vs-repairing-older-vehicles/
You think the bureaucrats will let that happen? You WILL have an EV or nothing at all.
You think the bureaucrats will let that happen?
In the UK, there is the possibility that Reform will take big chunks out of the major parties at the forthcoming general election, perhaps as a result of a protest vote. Perhaps Tice will present concise, logical, hard-hitting arguments to undermine the believers?
Unfortunately, it does currently look like a clear victory for Labour, so the possibility of Reform gaining leverage in a hung parliament is probably low, but we shall see.
Stellantis is global; UK is minor market.
Characterizing Stellantis as the maker of Vauxhall and Citroën cars seems odd. Maybe that’s their presence in UK. They probably sell more Ram trucks in a month than annual sales of Vaux and Cit.
And then there’s the currently small but exponentially expanding African market, of course.
No chance for EVs there!
Except for Ethiopia.
It’s the sixth-largest market for passenger cars in the world, ahead of every other country in Europe other than Germany, and bigger than the entire continent of Africa. How do you think we get away with driving on the left? Stellantis, Renault, and VAG have almost no presence in Japan, and Australia is a pretty small market.
Brazil edged out UK in 2023.
https://www.factorywarrantylist.com/car-sales-by-country.html
The Vauxhall Corsa is the third best selling car in UK, with 40k units sold in 2023. Citroen isn’t in the top ten.
https://www.best-selling-cars.com/britain-uk/2023-full-year-britain-best-selling-car-models-in-the-uk/
Ram sold 223,050 Ram Pickup in 2023. In 2022, Ram sold 468,344 Ram Pickup.
https://carfigures.com/us-market-brand/ram/ram-pickup
I find it strange that the western automotive industry has taken so long to realise that net zero automotive emission mandate is going to destroy their markets. They have always had immense lobbying power, employing millions and contributing so much to the economy, just how did they miss that 10 years ago they should have resisted, by threatening to close down production. Going Green is not really a very good idea if you are going to go bust!
My dear old Dad used to say that the more business he did with large corporations the clearer it became that their managers couldn’t have run a sweetie shop.
Lots of True Believers, lots who thought it would run out of steam, lots who buried their heads in the sand, lots who thought EVs would make them more money.
0https://joannenova.com.au/2024/04/ford-lost-1-3-billion-in-a-quarter-a-loss-of-132000-on-every-ev-sold/
By Chris Isodore, CNN: Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to $1.3 billion, or $132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year, helping to drag down earnings for the company overall.
The ICE vehicle will become the rich elites property, the horrible masses will be in battery cars, buses, or horse & carts
Will everyone who reads this please write to their local MPs and ask them if they are prepared to speak up in order to save British Jobs
Waste of time for me since we have Sushi’s little bimbo Claire Coutinho as MP.
No wonder Chris Stark was so keen on heat pumps:
https://order-order.com/2024/04/26/climate-change-committee-executive-promoting-heat-pump-brand/
From the outset the object of the exercise was to ration supply of vehicles by the clever and disingenuous use of percentage of sales targets, knowing that if a car manufacturer realised they were not going to reach the BEV target, ICE production must either be curtailed to prevent incurring ruinously high punitive penalties, or accept the penalty and put it onto the selling price of the ICE vehicle which has the added benefits of 1) closing the purchase price gap between BEV and ICE due to the £17,000 penalty, and 2) raising revenue for the Government.
However, importing ICE vehicles gets you off the hook…….take note World.
Solution, if I was a UK based ICE car manufacturer, I would advise the Government that unless this stupidly ends in one month, I would shut down 100% production and procurement and the responsibility for the unemployment and financial damage done to supply sub contractors lies entirely at their doorstep- harsh but fair; if possible I would ask that every UK car manufacturer join in, let’s bring home hard the reality of Net Zero meaning Not Zero, No Jobs, No Cars.
In January of this year, I traded in my 17 plate Skoda Octavia diesel for a 23 plate Skoda Octavia petrol, I realised that the pool of cars especially 22 & 23 low mileage (mine was 1675) was next to nothing, why did I change, because I did not want a BEV or ZEV, and I could see a time when the CCC would push for a 100% ban on all vehicles registered before 2020, including classics, such is the desperation to force the public to comply.
The govt aren’t that clever. Reality is they’ve been duped by the eco loons and for all the moaning about pushing the extinction of ICE back they never touched ZEV and virtually nobody raised one iota that nothing had really changed. Sunak needs to repeal the requirement otherwise Labour, should they get elected, won’t at least initially and by teh time they realise teh damage its causing it will be too late.
Perhaps we’ll end up like Cuba
https://discovercorps.com/blog/why-is-cuba-filled-with-classic-cars/
And just like that, real auto mechanics become heroes. As mwhite already said, the UK will look like Cuba in another decade or so.
The older the vehicle the easier it is to maintain.
Til the ECU goes.
Real cars don’t have ECUs, Gamecock!
Real cars don’t have ECUs, Gamecock!
Magneto and Monobloc for true sustainability and interesting starting rituals.
6V, positive ground?
Buy a dwell meter while you still can.
6V, positive ground?
I have a range to choose from: 6V positive ground, 12V positive ground and 12V negative ground.
Most of my working life has involved dealing with (non-automotive) AC electrical systems with negative grounds, so positive ground seems very wrong, although – historically – most vehicles were positive ground, AIUI.
I should convert all the bikes to negative ground, it’s on the list …. as it has been for several years.
Every government ‘initiative’ or law seems to be restrictive or punitive in some way. Bans, limits, taxes, new thresholds and the like.
Sunak is staring into the political abyss yet his ‘Big Ideas’ reduce access to smoking and vaping. LTN’s, 15 minute cities and endless Greenwashing prevail.
I see this as deliberately managed economic decline. Growth is desperately needed but is nowhere to be seen. Net Zero is the cover story, the distraction. It enables gov’t to talk their big game while actually undermining almost everything.
What is Net Zero actually delivering? Frankly, nothing. It’s replacing one energy system (that used to work rather well) with one that doesn’t. It bakes in UK dependency on the weather and our friends in the EU. How is that compatible with an ‘independent’ post-Brexit UK? All this is done under the guise of Saving the Planet, thus rendering criticism obsolete.
Net Zero is like spending a fortune replacing perfectly good carpets with more expensive carpets. You spend big money but make no meaningful gain. Meanwhile our economy slides off a cliff while woke agendas and mass immigration thrive.
We’re being Royally shafted.
And the more expensive carpets are smaller, the wrong shape for the rooms and less hard-wearing.
It’s about a bigger state, with more control and power for those in charge. That’s been the theme since Thatcher and Reagan reduced the power of the state. One example is how state spending is now locked in by being viewed as a percentage of GDP. Yet we spend much lower percentages of GDP on most things as we get wealthier. And as we saw with Liz Truss, attempt to cut taxes and reduce the state, even by a tiny amount, and you will be ousted.
The empty headed MPs are trying to force everyone off cars; Limit the amount of fuel=fewer IC cars sold=prices go up=fewer ICs sold=more EVs (if can be afforded)=more Chinese cars=stronger Chinese economy=Chinese takeover of the West.
Can’t the pudding brained politicians see that?
As ever, people who can’t afford to buy Chinese goods put Chinese people out of work.
Hurray ! Somebody with common sense !! ”Net Zero” is a nonsense, dreamed up by those who are fearful of CARBON DIOXIDE !!! Poor things need to get out a bit more and realise we ALL EXHALE CO2 from our noses – it is not poisonous but PLANT FOOD and we would all starve without it!
Venessa, I don’t think it was ‘dreamed up by those who are fearful of CO2’ – that’s just a cynical reason on their part to get more control of people. Sadly, there are a lot if useful idiots around (not here) who are happy to help.
Planet savers take note…
Norway’s Oil Demand Hasn’t Crashed Despite Record EV Market Share – Apr 26, 2024
The fact that a record 90% share of all new car sales in Norway are electric has failed to make any impact on the country’s oil demand, indicating that hopes of rising EV uptake making an immediate dent in global oil demand are unrealistic.
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Norways-Oil-Demand-Hasnt-Crashed-Despite-Record-EV-Market-Share.html
It seems that Ford alone report separate figures for battery cars and for the first quarter has LOST $132,000 on every car they have sold totalling $1.3bn. You don’t need to be a business guru to see that figure as unsustainable. You wonder how badly the other US car makers are faring.
It’s not over for them. Their dealers are balking at spending money to get equipment to maintain electrics.
Fascism
When the Govt feel it necessary to force anything upon you,m you just know it’s not good, not thought out and will definitely cost you