Vertu boss Robert Forrester has hit out at manufacturers for restricting the supply of new petrol and hybrid cars in a bid to comply with the controversial ZEV mandate.
The dealer group yesterday (Sep 2) reported a strong five-month trading performance despite new car sales falling due to a ‘soft’ market.
However, boss Forrester believes things could have been even better, were it not for the hotly-debated ZEV mandate.
The much-debated government legislation requires a certain percentage of the sales of every car manufacturer to be electric, otherwise, firms will face financial penalties.
This year, the required percentage is 22 per cent, rising each year to 80 per cent in 2030.
Car makers unable to meet their targets will be fined, with the government proposing a £15,000 penalty for every non-electric car and £18,000 per non-electric van they miss their target by.
Forrester says that, as a result, franchise dealers are now having their supply of new petrol and hybrid cars restricted, despite high levels of customer demand.
The former Undercover Big Boss star added that carmakers are therefore pushing cars that ‘maybe people don’t want’ in order to avoid fines.
He was quoted in the Times as saying: ‘In some franchises, there’s 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 [carmakers] are trying to avoid fines, so they are constraining the ability to keep to the targets.’
The comments are not the first time that Forrester and Vertu have been critical of the mandate, which is forcing a huge number of manufacturers to rethink their EV strategies.
In a trading update back in June, a spokesman for the Car Dealer Top 100 dealer group said the regulations had the ‘potential to create volatility’.
A spokesman said: ‘‘The Zero Emission Mandate to force the uptake of zero emission vehicles sold in the UK has the potential to create volatility in the new car market.
‘This may include reduced supply of new petrol and diesel cars in the coming periods and would lead to a strengthening of petrol and diesel used car values.’