Major car brands urged Labour to scrap 2035 petrol and diesel vehicle ban amid fears of ‘Chinese products’

The letters, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information request, appeared to show automakers support a “multipath strategy”, including low and zero emission vehicles.

It pointed to the European Union’s decision to amend its own vehicle phase-out rules, namely by requiring carmakers to comply with a 90 per cent tailpipe emissions reduction target.

The EU will allow for the remaining 10 per cent to be compensated through e-fuels and European-made steel, allowing for the sale of plug-in hybrid, mild hybrids and ICE vehicles to “still play a role” beyond 2035.

Carmakers jointly supported an “open technology approach” in letters sent to the Department for Transport in April earlier this year.

This came against a backdrop of calls for the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate to be reviewed and potentially weakened to reduce the amount of electric car sales that need to be made by automakers.

The mandate outlines that manufacturers must have 33 per cent of sales come from zero emission vehicles by the end of the year, with this target rising to 80 per cent in 2030 and 100 per cent in 2035.

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Several of the best-selling brands in the UK have called for a review, in addition to the Unite union, which warned that thousands of jobs could be lost if changes to the ZEV mandate were not introduced in a timely manner.

The UK managing director of Stellantis, Eurig Druce, also sent correspondence to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and then-Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle.

He noted issues with the Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme (VETS), but also criticised the Government’s position to “welcome likely heavily subsidised Chinese products into the UK”.

Mr Druce specifically pointed to data from Q1 of this year, which showed that market growth excluding Chinese car brands was down three per cent, while the presence of Chinese brands boosted overall volume growth by four per cent year-on-year.

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Tanya Sinclair, CEO of Electric Vehicles UK, said: “Car manufacturers moaning about not being able to meet the targets they previously agreed to was never the heart of their discontent.

“We can now see in black and white that they don’t want to compete in an open marketplace with ‘Chinese products’.

“These few manufacturers, putting a small number of vehicles onto UK roads, expect to hold our established EV market to ransom, and it’s a sorry state of affairs if the Government caves in.”

The UK’s automotive trade association, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), also warned the Transport Secretary that jobs could be lost if the Government maintained its current position.

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Commenting on the letters, Ben Kilbey, founder of Bold Voodoo, said: “We’ve clearly moved beyond simply lobbying over the ZEV mandate. This is now lobbying over the 2035 ban itself.

“For years, the industry’s central argument has been that it needs policy certainty. Yet as more flexibility has been introduced, the lobbying has expanded from changing the trajectory to questioning the destination.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said it remains committed to phasing out sales of non-zero emission vehicles by 2035, adding that it would review the ZEV mandate by 2027.

BMW told the Guardian that it had “concerns about the trajectory of the ZEV mandate”, while Nissan said it remained “fully committed” to an all-electric future.

GB News has contacted Stellantis for a comment.