Blitz Bureau
Car makers are rationing sales of petrol and hybrid vehicles in Britain to avoid hefty net zero fines, according to one of the country’s biggest dealership chains.
Fear of breaching quota Robert Forrester, chief executive of Vertu Motors, said manufacturers were delaying deliveries of cars until next year amid fears they will otherwise breach quotas set for them by the Government, according to a report by The Telegraph. This means someone ordering a car today at some dealerships will not receive it until February, he said.
At the same time, Mr Forrester warned manufacturers and dealers were grappling with a glut of more expensive electric vehicles (EVs) that are “not easily finding homes”.
He 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 [manufacturers] 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 chief executive blamed the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires at least 22 per cent of cars sold by manufacturers to be electric from this year.
Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which represents car makers, slashed its forecast for electric car sales this year amid the ongoing slowdown in demand. The group now predicts electric vehicles (EVs) will account for 18.5 per cent of the new car market in 2024, down from an earlier prediction of 19.8pc
EV sales down
EV registrations surged higher in July but sales to private consumers continued to slump. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said the weakening demand for EVs among private consumers – despite heavy discounting by car makers – remained the industry’s “overriding concern”.
