The UK should get rid of a “stupid” ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars in order to close a trade deal with the European Union, the chief of Renault has said, reports BritPanorama.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Renault CEO François Provost stated that if the UK wishes to join the EU’s Made in Europe industrial programme, it should rethink the current pledge to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030, while permitting hybrid car sales until 2035.
“What is a good date for 100 per cent electric?” Mr Provost said. “There is no good date because it’s stupid to ban non-electric cars. It is stupid.”
Downing Street has indicated that inclusion in the EU’s Made in Europe scheme would be “good news” for Britain’s car industry, despite a report in The Guardian suggesting it would be conditional on the UK aligning with the EU’s position on tariffs for Chinese-made electric vehicles.
Thus far, Britain has resisted pressure from Europe to impose such tariffs, with trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds asserting that decisions on tariffs would be “based on the UK interest.”
However, Mr Provost indicated that the UK would need to comply with tariffs on Chinese imports if it wanted access to the scheme. France and Germany have reportedly proposed allowing the UK’s automotive industry to be included in the protectionist scheme, formally known as the Industrial Accelerator Act.
Addressing the reports on Friday, a Number 10 spokesperson noted that the government would “welcome the objective to have the UK included in the Industrial Accelerator Act.”
She added that this would be “good news for the British automotive industry and the jobs and investment it supports across the UK,” but emphasized there is “still a European process to run.”
Mr Provost described the UK’s automotive industry as being at a “kind of tipping point”: “Obviously the UK has to be together with the EU. We have been in the same ecosystem for automotive for decades. So from a business perspective, from an industry perspective, this is just common sense.”
But he cautioned that the industrial ambitions for Europe’s car industry necessitate being “realistic on electrification, but to continue electrification,” adding: “We have to freeze regulations now in order to decrease the price paid by customers.”
Earlier this week, Andy Burnham warned that the Made in Europe scheme presented “risks to British manufacturing” and promised to raise concerns about its impact on UK automotive firms with the bloc. The programme aims to protect clean technology firms and electric vehicle manufacturers from cheap Chinese competition.
The EU has already taken steps to limit imports of Chinese electric vehicles, including imposing tariffs; replicating those levies could be the price of the UK’s inclusion in the Made in Europe scheme.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has been contacted for comment.
