If you’re one of the thousands of drivers with a new petrol or diesel car on order, don’t expect it to arrive just in time for Christmas… or New Year’s Eve.
That’s because automakers are holding off on deliveries until January amid new measures in hand to meet electric vehicle sales targets and avoid hefty fines, according to one owner of a car dealership chain.
Robert Forrester, CEO of Vertu Motors, said dealers are being forced to delay taking delivery of their new cars, which are being held in ‘storage’ until January.
This is because car companies want to avoid penalties for not registering a 22 percent share of EVs by 2024, which is the threshold set by the Zero Vehicle Authority (ZEV). introduced this year.
Failure to meet the 22 per cent level will result in a fine of £15,000 for each vehicle that falls short of the required threshold.
By banning the availability of petrol and diesel cars until the new year, manufacturers are ‘planning through the back door’ to boost EV sales numbers, says Forrester.
All I want for Christmas is my new car: Vertu Motors boss Robert Forrester says manufacturers are holding back the supply of petrol and diesel cars until January to meet demand sales target 2024 EV
The owner of Vertu Motors, which operates 202 dealerships representing major brands including Honda, BMW and Kia across the country, told Auto Express: ‘We have petrol cars in compounds that have been sold to customers, but the keys cannot be given because the manufacturers. know and want to avoid fines at the end of this year.
‘Christmas is coming and thousands of car buyers from different dealerships around the UK are unable to take delivery of their cars because they are being held until January with the new ‘year quota’ .
‘It’s promising at the back door.’
Forrester has strongly criticized ZEV’s dominance and impact on the new car market.
In September, he said consumers are facing ‘a banning the sale of gasoline and hybrid cars‘, although these cars are in high demand.
‘It seems like we can’t offer cars that people want, but a lot of cars they might not want,’ he said earlier this year, saying showrooms are being forced to pushing sales. electric vehicles before the consumer demand was low.
In his The latest information is in a separate column written for Auto Expresshe said the regulation would ‘destroy the UK car industry for good’ as he revealed the latest in a long list of measures introduced by car firms to beat the country’s EV sales quotas government.
He said his customers were leading the sector in terms of electric car sales but even their volumes were ‘still nowhere near the government’s targets’.
The owner of Vertu Motors told Auto Express that the new petrol cars are being kept in ‘compounds’ instead of being sold to customers as part of a bid to avoid end-of-year ZEV fines.
By restricting the availability of petrol and diesel cars until the new year, manufacturers are ‘preparing the back door’, says Forrester
The ZEV mandate introduced in January sets EV sales targets that will increase annually over the next ten years. Automakers as a whole are down 22% on demand this year
It was passed into law under the Conservative government in January, the The ZEV mandate requires more than a fifth of vehicles sold by mainstream manufacturers this year to be emission-free. – electric vehicles.
The target will be increased each year, rising to 28 percent next year, the third in 2026, 80 percent by 2030 to eliminate gasoline and new car sales, and finally 100 percent 2035 hybrid models will be banned from sale.
Car manufacturers that fail to meet the required thresholds will be forced to pay a fine of £15,000 for each vehicle that falls short of the set target.
The authority operates on a credit-based system in which credits are given or taken away from producers if they perform above or below annual quotas.
Manufacturers can choose to bank these credits for future years if needed, or they can sell them to smaller automakers that want to avoid fines.
Conglomerates, such as the Volkswagen Group and Stellantis, can use the profits from one brand under its umbrella to help another to do worse than other brands it owns.
But manufacturers also get credits for sales of smaller cars, such as plug-in hybrids.
If a car manufacturer beats its CO2 target (set individually for each brand) by reducing their CO2 emissions, then it is possible, for the first three years, to convert this breathing room into ZEV credits on at a discount price.
However, failure to meet the annual sales and earnings figures will result in a £15,000 fine per vehicle.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, EVs accounted for 25.1 percent of all passenger vehicle registrations in November.
This is a product of the manufacturers lowering costs to make EVs more affordable – but also maintain the availability of new petrol and diesel models to manipulate the numbers as they see fit.
Looking ahead to 2024, the current EV market share is only 18.7 percent – more than three percent shy of the ZEV mandate of 22 percent.
As December sales register, it’s no surprise to learn that manufacturers are delaying the launch of new petrol and diesel models to boost EV numbers.
Although EVs accounted for a quarter of all registrations in November, the EV market share for all of 2024 is below the threshold required by the ZEV mandate.
Earlier this year, Guy Pigounakis, MG UK’s commercial director, told This is Money that the threat of ‘horrendous fines’ had led to ‘behaviour from manufacturers not seen in the 40’s
Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK and Ireland, said last month that the ZEV mandate was ‘unworkable’ and called on the government to introduce ‘significant’ funding to encourage EV sales .
Earlier this year, another one The auto industry executive highlighted the various strategies offered by automakers to meet the demands of the ZEV mandate..
Guy Pigounakis, MG UK’s commercial director, told The Money that manufacturers are lowering prices and introducing their own EV portfolio to make it more attractive to drivers.
They also used the Motability program and customer demonstrations to boost EV sales numbers, he told us.
Automobile manufacturers were strongly opposed to the mandate.
Last month, Vauxhall criticized the UK government’s EV sales targets when they were announced will close its Luton car factory next year, before threatening to take some of his work out of England because of the administration.
Ford executives – fresh from the announcement of European jobs – have said in recent weeks Management ‘can’t do it’.
Nissan also told ministers at an emergency meeting that the ZEV would be in control salary in England.
Following a meeting with industry leaders, Louise Haigh MP agreed to run a consultation on the relaxation of ZEV ownership rules.
However, just a few days later he was forced to step down as Transport Minister after he was found guilty of fraud a decade ago.
Some links in this article are affiliate links. If you click on them we may receive a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our privacy.
