British automakers begin rationing gas cars over climate mandates
Car manufacturers in the UK have started rationing out gas vehicles to comply with the government’s climate mandate, according to one of the country’s largest car dealerships.
A law that took effect in January restricts how many new gas cars and vans can be sold annually in the UK. Twenty-two percent of all new cars sold in 2024 must be zero-emissions vehicles (ZEVs), capping the sale of gas vehicles at 78%. The cap will become more restrictive each year until 2035, when all cars sold will be required to be ZEVs.
The ZEV mandate has already caused automakers to begin rationing how many gas vehicles they send to dealerships. Carmakers who do not meet the ZEV quota will be fined £15,000 ($19,680) for each gas vehicle beyond the quota.
Vertu Motors, one of the UK’s largest car dealers, says it is experiencing a gas vehicle shortfall because car manufacturers are afraid to exceed the limit.
“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,” Vertu Motors CEO Robert Forrester told The Telegraph Monday.
“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.”
Industry already smarting from low EV demand
The climate mandate may spell disaster for the auto industry which is already reeling from plummeting consumer demand for electric vehicles (EVs). Twenty-nine percent of global EV owners are considering switching to gas cars for their next purchase. The lack of enthusiasm has prompted several of the world’s top carmakers to abandon EV projects and investments, including the UK’s own Aston Martin.
Forrester called supporters of the ZEV mandate “economic buffoons, because car manufacturers are being forced to discount EVs to such an extent that they’re making losses . . . and that is not a good thing for business.”
“What the Government’s actually doing is constraining the new car market, which has a big impact on VAT receipts for them, and creates a business environment in the UK where manufacturers may question whether they want to make cars here.
“As Carlos Tavares [chief executive of Stellantis] has said, why should they sell cars at a loss because of UK government policy?
“The new car market is no longer a market, unfortunately. It’s a state-imposed supply chain.”
Reducing private car ownership
The rationing of gas cars appears to align with the globalist ideal of reducing private car ownership. Last year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) outlined a framework for a 75% reduction in private cars by 2050 to reduce carbon emissions.
The WEF’s campaign against private car ownership stretches back several years. In 2018, the organization praised cities that decided to ban cars from certain areas, hoping it would be a rallying cry “for cities around the country to go car-free."
Many of them are answering the WEF’s call. A conglomerate of nearly 100 mayors called the C40 is implementing Zero Emission Areas, or “clean air zones,” where there are no carbon emissions. In Zero Emission Areas private car transport is discouraged and residents are pushed to walk, cycle, or ride public transportation.
Some see the reduction in private car ownership as a prelude to 15-minute cities, which the C40 has also begun to implement.
