Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), one of Britain’s most iconic carmakers, argued that the UK’s electric vehicle mandate was forcing domestic producers to subsidise their Chinese competitors. This claim was a central part of a successful lobbying campaign by the auto industry to weaken the government’s green transport rules.
According to consultation documents, JLR raised concerns about a provision in the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate that allowed manufacturers struggling to meet their EV sales targets to buy “credits” from those who exceeded them. As Chinese brands often lead in EV sales, JLR suggested this system funnelled money from UK-based companies to foreign rivals.
This argument resonated alongside other industry-wide warnings about the mandate’s economic impact. Carmakers like BMW, Nissan, and Toyota collectively claimed the rules were too aggressive, threatening UK jobs, investment, and diverting funds from research and development. Toyota warned of fines potentially reaching “hundreds of millions of pounds.”
While the government ultimately agreed to make the rules more flexible, critics argue the industry’s claims were overstated. They point to the fact that all manufacturers met their 2024 targets as evidence that the policy was working. The episode underscores the complexities of balancing domestic industrial strategy with global market dynamics and climate objectives.