Stellantis meets electric vehicle target despite criticising the goal and closing its Luton plant
The company that owns Britain’s Vauxhall car plants met the UK government’s electric vehicle (EV) sales mandate last year despite publicly criticising the target and announcing the closure of its Luton factory.
Stellantis, which also owns the Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat brands, as well as a number of others, was the UK’s best-selling electric van manufacturer in 2024, it announced on Thursday.
Despite this, the company said in November it would close its Luton van plant in April, putting more than 1,100 jobs at risk.
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Under the government’s zero-emission vehicle mandate (ZEV), car makers must ensure 22% of their annual sales are electric vehicles.
Financial penalties are levied against manufacturers if zero-emission cars make up less than 22% of all new sales and if electric vans make up less than 10%. This will rise to 80% of all electric car sales by 2030 and 100% by 2035.
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Stellantis surpassed this 2024 goal, however, but did not say what percentage of sales were electric cars and vans.
It did say it sold 39,492 electric cars in 2024 – a 59% increase on 2023 – and 7,821 electric vans.
‘ZEV mandate out of step with demand’
The target was hit despite longstanding criticism of the mandate, reiterated on Thursday.
Stellantis UK’s group managing director Eurig Druce said: “The steep trajectories of the ZEV mandate are out of step from current demand.”
“Put simply, if the UK is to achieve its transport emission ambitions, and for EVs to represent 80% of new cars sold in 2030, then consumers are going to need more encouragement from government to do so.”
Read more: UK’s EV market doing better than you might think
In response to industry complaint and job losses, as Ford planned to cut 800 UK roles as part of a European cull, the government announced a consultation on the ZEV goal.
Shortly after the consultation was announced, industry figures for November showed the target was reached. Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 25% of new car registrations in November, well above the government target.
But for 2024 as a whole, electric car sales were just shy of the mandate at 19.6%, according to the SMMT.
The lobby group said complying with the combustion engine phase-out rules would cost the industry £4bn in discounts (needed to make EVs appealing to buyers) and £1.8bn in fines for missing the mandate in 2024 alone.
‘UK’s targets are working’
Opposition to the policy is not uniform.
Campaign group New Automotive responded to the Stellantis figures by saying: “The lessons for ministers are clear: the UK’s targets are working, consumer demand is there, manufacturers are delivering, and the UK is poised to benefit from greener, cheaper transport.”
The Department for Transport said: “The UK is now the largest EV market in Europe and, thanks to the flexibilities of the ZEV Mandate, we are confident that the whole industry will meet targets and that no car manufacturer will need to pay fines.”
“We’re investing over £2.3bn to make the transition to zero-emissions vehicles a success, unlocking a multibillion-pound industry and creating high-quality jobs that will drive growth for decades to come.”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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