Britain’s zero-emissions vehicle mandate requires carmakers to raise the share of electric cars and vans they sell each year until reaching 100% by 2035. While the home of Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings Plc and Jaguar Land Rover has expanded its EV fleet faster than much of continental Europe, but meeting those targets will be difficult — especially now that the EU is pulling back.

“The UK is now completely out of line,” said David Bailey, an automotive industry professor at Birmingham Business School. “There’s no other country with a significant auto industry that has set such an aggressive target.”

The growing divergence comes just as automakers decide where to put the next wave of EV production. British plants, owned by the likes of BMW AG, Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. already face higher energy costs, post-Brexit trade friction and intensifying competition from Chinese manufacturers. With Europe still the main destination for UK-built cars, any regulatory split adds uncertainty at a sensitive moment.

UK consumers have embraced electric cars more quickly than most of Europe. In the year through October, fully electric models made up 22% of new-car sales, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, putting Britain ahead of the EU average of 16% and above Germany’s 18%.

Chinese brands are fast becoming part of the mix with brands like BYD Co., Jaecoo and Omoda — both part of Chery Automobile Co. — and Leapmotor Technology Co. accounting for roughly one in ten new cars sold in the UK this year, according to SMMT figures.

Even as local sales take off, the industry remains exposed to shifts on the continent: three-quarters of UK vehicle output is exported, with half going to the EU, the SMMT said, with the sector employing some 200,000 people in automotive and parts manufacturing.

“Europe is the biggest market for UK automotive exports and the largest source of products for UK car buyers, so what happens in Europe matters to the UK,” said Mike Hawes, the SMMT’s chief executive. “Permitting a greater range of technologies beyond 2035 gives Europe increased flexibility to manage a sustainable transition — without compromising ambition.”

For now, London still has a hard 2035 cutoff in place on emissions, though it reduced heavy fines earlier this year. Several prime ministers have reworked the policy since former leader Theresa May set a 2040 phase-out in 2017. Boris Johnson pulled the deadline forward to 2030 as part of a post-Brexit industrial strategy. Rishi Sunak later pushed it back to 2035, saying consumers and industry needed more time. Carmakers said the reversal disrupted investment plans calibrated to the earlier date.

The current government under Keir Starmer has tried to restore clarity by last year reinstating the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars while allowing hybrids until 2035. Still, years of meandering — now amplified by Europe’s pivot — have left manufacturers questioning the stability of the UK’s regulatory environment.

Earlier Tuesday, Nissan’s Massimiliano Messina, a regional executive including for Europe, said the EU’s changes could see the Japanese manufacturer that runs the UK’s biggest plant churn out more plug-in hybrids than previously planned. Nissan unveiled its revamped electric Leaf model in Sunderland, where the manufacturer has capacity to make 400,000 cars and in 2021 pledged to invest some £1 billion ($1.3 billion) with its battery partner to make EVs.

Messina, who said Nissan would meet the UK’s current EV target, also called for the government to halt a plan that would subject Britain’s electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle owners to a pay-per-mile tax from April 2028, he said in an interview in Sunderland.

“For the Labor government, the EU’s move provides a political get-out clause — a chance to soften the targets without losing too much face,” said Peter Wells, a professor and automotive industry researcher at Cardiff Business School. “But from a public-health perspective, it would be a disaster.”

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First Published Date: 17 Dec 2025, 08:08 am IST