Nissan last night warned ministers that zero-emission car targets will have an ‘irreversible impact’ on the British motor industry.
Just hours after holding crisis talks with the Government, the Japanese manufacturer said electric vehicle quotas would risk thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment.
And as the urgent meeting was underway, Ford unveiled plans to axe 4,000 jobs across Europe including 800 roles in the UK amid flagging electric car sales.
But despite stark warnings from industry leaders, ministers yesterday doubled down on proposals to introduce green targets just minutes after concluding the crunch talks.
Guillaume Cartier, chair of the Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania region, said: ‘It risks undermining the business case for manufacturing cars in the UK, and the viability of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment.
‘We now need to see urgent action from the Government by the end of the year to avoid a potentially irreversible impact on the UK automotive sector.’
Nissan employs around 7,000 people in the UK including 6,000 at the country’s largest car making plant in Sunderland.
More than 198,000 workers are directly employed in the wider car manufacturing sector, with some 813,000 working in the supply chain.
Nissan yesterday said the Government’s electric car plan ‘undermines the business case for manufacturing cars in the UK’, throwing further doubt on the future of the industry in the UK.
It comes after Vauxhall-owner Stellantis this summer threatened to close its Ellesmere Port and Luton plants over quotas for zero-emission vehicles.
Carmakers have long raised concerns about the Zero Emissions Mandate, which will force them to increase the proportion of electric vehicles they sell each year until the sale of new petrol and diesel motors is banned.
Under the targets, electric vehicles must make up 22pc of a firm’s car sales and 10pc of van sales this year.
The threshold will rise annually. For every sale outside of that target, the company must pay a £15,000 fine.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) has warned that companies are likely to miss this year’s targets.
Meanwhile Labour wants to ban fossil fuel burning cars by 2030, five years earlier than the target set by former Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Manufacturers are supportive of the push to Net Zero but a lack of demand for electric cars among drivers has left firms struggling to make the investment.
Motorists have been put off by expensive prices and a lack of charging points.
OpenReach chief executive Clive Selly yesterday told the BBC that public charging infrastructure in the UK was ‘insufficient and unreliable’.
Carmakers had hoped the meeting with business secretary Jonathan Reynolds, transport secretary Lou Haigh and energy minister Michael Shanks would result in the mandate being watered down or more incentives being introduced.
Motoring giants BMW, Volkswagen, Ford, Stellantis and Toyota attended the meeting as well as industry associations and charging infrastructure firms.
Announcing job cuts yesterday, Ford’s finance chief John Lawler said the company lacked ‘an unmistakeable, clear policy agenda to advance e-mobility’ in Europe.
The firm’s plants in Dagenham and Halewood and its Southampton logistics base will not be affected by the redundancies, it said. Most of the positions at risk are administrative or product development roles.
Dave Johnston, Ford’s European head of transformation and partnerships, said: ‘It is critical to take difficult but decisive action to ensure Ford’s future competitiveness in Europe.’
It joined Volkswagen and Stellantis in unveiling major cost saving proposals linked to weaker demand for electric vehicles.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said: ‘Today’s discussion with ministers was an important opportunity to restate the UK automotive industry’s commitment to both economic growth and Net Zero.
‘However, the industry also made clear its concerns about the pace of the EV transition and the negative effect this is having on the health of the overall market and the attractiveness of the UK as a manufacturing location.’
