EU car industry successfully lobbies to push back all-electric targets amid mounting backlash

Labour has been urged to delay a ban on petrol and diesel cars as Brussels reportedly prepares to push back its own deadline by five years. The Telegraph has the story.

Ministers have been warned that sticking with the current 2030 ban on the sale of new internal combustion engine vehicles would be disastrous were the EU to extend its deadline to go all-electric to 2040.

The Sunday Times reported that carmakers have had confirmation that the Brussels ban will be pushed back from its current date of 2035, citing Tim Tozer, UK chairman of insurer and roadside assistance firm Allianz Partners, and unnamed executives.

Andy Palmer, the former chief executive of Aston Martin, told the Telegraph a shift in the EU ban to 2040 was “seemingly inevitable” given the strength of lobbying.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has faced pressure from Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, and leaders of other countries with large car industries to ease off on the clampdown.

A delay would allow petrol cars to be sold across the EU for 10 years longer than in the UK, creating headaches for manufacturers.

While British plants export three-quarters of their cars, with Europe the biggest market, manufacturers will still be bound to Britain’s strict electric vehicle (EV) targets, suggesting they will have to run twin manufacturing lines to meet demand both at home and abroad.

The US, the second-largest market for British-made vehicles, is also reversing policies that encouraged the switch to electric vehicles.

Brian Gregory, policy director at the Alliance of British Drivers, said an EU rethink could render Labour’s stance on banning sales by the end of the decade fatal for UK production.

He said: “This makes the Government’s stance untenable. We would be destroying our automotive industry and the whole supply chain to no good purpose.

“The UK should step back from the abyss and continue supporting its manufacturers, because if we don’t, we’ll have no car industry left.”

A global survey released by think tank Chatham House on Monday showed that British drivers were among the most reluctant in Europe to buy an EV.

One-third of UK respondents said they were “not interested at all” in EVs, a higher proportion than in the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Read the full story here.