The Chief Executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Mike Hawes, has used his New Year Message to warn of “strong headwinds” the industry faces as it seeks to decarbonise.
He writes that billions of pounds had been spent before 2024 in the development of cutting-edge EVs with 135 such car models and 33 vans now available.
“Yet billions more have been required this year to subsidise sales to meet the UK’s tough EV mandate,” he writes. “Industry has been compelled to single-handedly underwrite the transition against a backdrop of lacklustre demand, which has meant unprecedented and, indeed, unsustainable EV discounting.”
He also mentions that , while “the shift to zero emission mobility is rightly top of the agenda… we cannot forget the simultaneous once-in-a-generation transition to self-driving vehicles”. He says 2024’s Automated Vehicles Act was a watershed moment for innovation, putting the UK alongside a handful of major markets with regulatory frameworks designed to ensure rollout is safe and responsible.
He concludes by writing that “with automotive at its heart, the UK could steer some £50 billion of growth – green growth – in the next decade. 2025 must be the year in which industry and government put both hands on the wheel.”
(Picture – Yay Images)
