1 day Ago By Jack Mortimer
Kia has urged the Government to give car manufacturers more support in the switch to electric vehicles as many face fines for not selling enough. While the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) highlighted that sales of electric models were particularly strong throughout 2024, they still failed to meet the Government's target of 22 percent of the overall new car market. Speaking to the motoring publication Auto Express, Paul Philpott, President and CEO of Kia UK , argued more incentives are required to increase demand from buyers.
He warned: "If the level of demand from retail customers is not where it needs to be to hit future ZEV [zero-emission vehicle] mandate targets, then we need to put incentives in place to build the momentum. "We all remember the scrappage scheme of 2009, 2010, and the relatively modest Government incentives – this saved the car industry for those two years." Under the current system, which is under review by the Government, vehicle manufacturers are required to sell a certain percentage of fully electric models to avoid a £15,000 for each unsold model.
In order to avoid the hefty fine, many car companies began discounting their electric models to attract more attention, with a number of vehicles being sold for more than £10,000 under their list price. While this caused a spike in sales, helping the UK overtake all EU countries to become Europe's largest buyer of new electric cars, motoring experts have voiced concerns that it could leave car companies worse off in the long run, with Ford and Vauxhall announcing job cuts in the UK in late 2024. To help support new car buyers and vehicle brands alike, Mr Philpott urged the Government to reinstate incentives for private motorists to make them more affordable and offer more clarity over what cars will be banned in 2030.
He added: "I think it would be a really strong statement of intent from the Government about the future environment and the rapid electrification of the UK car market if they were to put a modest incentive in place for retail customers in the same way as they have for user-choosers and company-car purchasers. "We're the fourth biggest market globally for Kia, so we're quite a significant player – and we don't know what we can sell other than EVs beyond 2030. That cannot be a sensible planning base.
" The Government recently confirmed that they still intend to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel models from 2030, with buyers only able to purchase a used model that runs on fossil fuels. However, it is currently unclear whether companies will still be able to sell different types of hybrid models beyond that date, with experts divided over whether self-charging hybrids will also be taken off sale in 2030. While more than 22 percent of models sold by Kia in the UK were fully electric, with models including the EV6 liftback and EV9 MPV, the company also sells a wide range of petrol and hybrid models, with the Sportage SUV being the UK's second-best-selling model of 2024.
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