Out to lunch with a former boss, I skipped both coffee and dessert to get back to my computer to check the contents of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement. I quickly scanned back through the BBC News live reporting and found nothing that would specifically interest anyone working in the UK’s automotive industry. Or who owns a car. Or wants to own a car, perhaps an electric one. I tried another website, then another and another. Nothing.
Just before lunch I was reading product news from Nissan, a former employer of mine. The articles explained how the all-new Leaf EV will be a crossover and built at the brand’s factory in Sunderland. The site is to benefit from £2billion of investment and will also produce new versions of the Juke and Qashqai. Both will feature an electric powertrain. Batteries are also going in a new Micra for the first time. These are hard facts, not media speculation, and are fantastic news for UK plc that will secure thousands of jobs for years to come.
When asked about the future of Sunderland, Nissan’s new CEO, Ivan Espinosa, is quoted as saying: “Yes, [it’s] very safe. It’s the jewel of Europe… it’s the best-practice plant for us.”
So far so good. But Espinosa also warned that the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires car-makers like Nissan to sell a rising percentage of EVs each year, was…“making life very difficult for us”.
Espinosa added: “It’s not a Nissan question, it’s more a UK question: where is ZEV going? Where is the UK market going? That’s for the UK government to answer.”
Less than 24 hours later and Chancellor Rachel Reeves has done just that… with silence. Nothing in the Spring Statement on the ZEV mandate, and nothing to incentivise sales of those forthcoming Nissan EVs, as well as the many models already on sale from so many brands.
We’re seeing more and more electric cars on UK roads, but adoption is being driven hard by the fleet sector, rather than private buyers. The Spring Statement could have been a high-profile platform to relaunch the Plug-In Car Grant, or reveal some other financial stimulus to give retail customers the incentive and confidence to buy an EV.
It feels like a missed opportunity to me, and I suspect the Nissan Government Affairs team – which liaises with ministers on big corporate announcements like this morning's – thinks the same. And I should have stayed for coffee and dessert.
