A top executive from major manufacturer Ford has warned that environmental goals will force the price of petrol cars higher amid the transition to electric vehicles.
The Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate was introduced at the start of the year and aimed to boost the sale of electric vehicles from major producers.
From the end of 2024, automakers will need to have at least 22 per cent of their total sales come from EVs, or they could face a £15,000 fine per vehicle over the target.
The sales targets will slowly increase over the coming years, reaching 80 per cent of cars and 70 per cent of vans by the end of the decade and 100 per cent of vehicles by 2035.
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A Ford boss has warned that the price of petrol cars could be forced up
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However, a top executive from Ford is now calling for the measures to be investigated to ensure brands have the opportunity to switch to EVs without hammering drivers with costs when buying new vehicles.
Martin Sander, general manager of Ford's European electric car division, spoke of the threat that environmental targets, like the ZEV mandate, pose to manufacturers and motorists.
He said: "It’s really important for politicians to monitor what is going on and that the ZEV targets, this year, next year, going forward, are roughly in line with consumer demand.
“This is what we need. You cannot push vehicles into the market against demand," he told the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit.
Similar models to the ZEV mandate are used around the world, including California in the United States and British Columbia in Canada.
Sander claimed that Ford would be able to meet the net zero goals with its consistent output of electric vehicles, but said it would not be paying penalties, The Telegraph reported.
Ford currently has a number of EVs on the market including the all-electric Explorer, the Mustang Mach-E and the E-Transit - in addition to the best-selling Ford Puma hybrid vehicle.
He added: "The only alternative is to take our shipments of ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles to the UK down and sell them somewhere else.
“I don’t know if consumers will like seeing the ICE prices going up.”
Recent research from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) found that 74,877 petrol vehicles were sold in the UK in April - a 3.1 per cent drop compared to the same time last year.
Despite this, it retains a 55.8 per cent market share over all other fuel types, although this is a fall of 2.3 per cent in comparison with 2023.
In the same time, the market share of battery electric vehicles has grown by 1.5 per cent, with hybrid vehicles also seeing a jump.
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Experts have called on the Government and car brands to introduce a number of new measures to deal with the waning demand for electric vehicles.
This includes slashing the rate of VAT on public chargers, expanding access to chargepoints around the country and removing the "expensive car supplement" from newly-registered EVs.
