Ford boss says Government’s ‘aggressive’ Net Zero rules are hitting British car industry
FORD’S UK boss claimed the British car industry was being hit by the harshest Net Zero rules in the world.
And Lisa Brankin told The Sun that the Government needed to boost incentives for drivers to switch to electric vehicles.
Strict deadlines backed by the threat of swingeing fines have been blamed for Vauxhall’s decision last week to shut its Luton factory, risking 1,100 jobs.
Meanwhile, Ford has cut 800 jobs in a month to ensure it is “fit for the future” in the face of looming Chinese competition.
The Government is consulting on easing its stance amid warnings the industry will fail to meet a 22 per cent EV sales target this year.
Ms Brankin said “flexibility will be helpful” but added: “The key thing we need is government-funded incentives to drive the uptake of electric vehicles because that’s what the challenge is.”
Ms Brankin called emission targets “really, really aggressive”.
She went on: “As an industry, we are being heavily regulated and with some really significant penalties and I think we’re the only market globally that has that. We’re saying if we want to hit that CO2 target, we need to manage this transition together.”
Ford committed to keeping open its Halewood site in Liverpool, which employs 700 workers, after overhauling its production line to power units for electric cars.
And it launched an electric version of its best-selling Puma, priced at £29,995 and with a single-charge range of 233 miles.