Stellantis may halt its U.K. production unless the government does more to spur demand for electric vehicles to help it comply with regulations requiring automakers to sell more EVs, the company's top U.K. executive said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a news conference held by industry group the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) in London, Maria Grazia Davino told reporters that a decision on the future of the company's U.K. production would likely come in "less than a year."
Grazia Davino's remarks come a little over a week before Britons go to the polls to elect a new government.
Unlike the European Union, where automakers can meet CO2 emissions reduction targets by selling a mixture of hybrids and EVs, Britain is demanding from this year that automakers sell a minimum percentage of fully electric cars or face fines of 15,000 pounds ($19,033) per noncompliant vehicle sold.
"In the U.K. there will be consequences (of the mandates) for sure," Grazia Davino said. "Stellantis U.K. does not stop, but Stellantis production in the U.K. could stop."
This year, the U.K. government has ruled that 22% of all new cars sold must be EVs. According to SMMT data, fully electric cars only made up 16.1% of sales through to May.
There are still U.K. tax incentives in place for corporate fleets to buy EVs, but there are no subsidies for consumers to buy EVs that are more expensive than fossil-fuel equivalents.
Rather than pay fines, Stellantis – home to brands including Peugeot, Fiat, Vauxhall and Jeep – may import fewer fossil-fuel models into the U.K. to curtail sales and hit the 22% target, Grazia Davino said.
"The fact is that demand is not there," she said.
Like other automakers, Stellantis wants Britain to provide tax incentives for consumers and to boost charging infrastructure, and for the company's U.K. EV production to count toward its targets, even though some of it is exported.
Stellantis currently makes electric vans at its Ellesmere Port plant in northwest England and has previously said it would start making electric vans at its Luton plant in southern England in 2025.
"Let me be clear, I want to keep the production in the U.K.," Grazia Davino said.
