VMs limiting ICE supply to meet ZEV Mandate targets

Vehicle manufacturers are limiting the sale of petrol and hybrid vehicles to dealerships in order to meet incoming ZEV Mandate targets.

This is according to Vertu Motors’ chief executive Robert Forrester, who said some deliveries of new petrol and hybrid cars won’t arrive until next February.

The ZEV Mandate stipulates that at least 22% of cars sold by manufacturers must be electric from this year, with the proportion rising to 80% by 2030.

Manufacturers face fines of up to £15,000 for every petrol car sold exceeding this quota.

ZEV Mandate

Forrester 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 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 news comes after the government confirmed that it would enforce the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars. A decision on whether this will also apply to vans has not been made.

Forrester said:

“What the government is 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.”