Vocal Voices

The CEO of Stellantis, owners of the Vauxhall brand, is considering all options for the future.
These include restricting the number of new cars that they sell in the UK, or pulling out of the UK market altogether.
Why? Because the day of the grand gesture is drawing to an end. Reality has to be addressed.
The government has mandated that something like 24% of all new cars sold in the very near future have to be EVs.
If a manufacturer doesn't hit this target then they will be fined £15,000 per car that isn't an EV.
Stellantis don't think that the 24% is going to happen.

So, is the government going to dump the target?
Or sit by as a manufacturer potentially abandons the UK market?

The 22% Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate came into force in January this year. It is up an running.

As of the end of March 2024 the sales of ZEVs is at 15.2% of all sales. That's a lot of £15k fines to be paid. The only reason sales are that "high" is because of the tax incentives for fleet buyers. The majority of private buyers are not interested.

By 2030 the government's grand plan is that 80% of new car sales have to be EV's.

That seems very unlikely to me.

Stellantis has refused to engage in the EV transition that has to come.

Recently in China they broke up a joint venture and exited China for Jeep vehicles because they refuse to go EV and are also reluctant to go hybrid. Because of China's laws on emissions, the Jeeps were already almost impossible to sell. So they withdrew and the JV partner is all in on EV.

They have doubled down on this in the US and they are selling the minimum number of hybrids in the EU to meet the 95g laws. Those 95g emssions of CO2 per km driven reduce to around 45g in 2030. There is no hybrid in production right now which can meet 45g. Plug in or otherwise.

They have been trying to paper over the cracks by using existing body types with custom made multiple battery packs that fit in the gaps but these vehicles are neither efficient nor profitable. Really the only truly EV orientated vehicle from the ground up that they sell is the 500. The component companies of Stellantis, before they merged, were selling around 9m vehicles a year. Last year they sold 6.16m and called it growth.

I need a picture of a Dodo with a Stellantis logo in it's ass.