Manfred Weber, president of the European People's Party, confirmed that the EU's 100 percent emissions reduction target for 2035 has been replaced with a 90 percent requirement. Weber told German newspaper Bild that the technology ban on combustion engines is now off the table, meaning all engines currently manufactured in Germany can continue to be produced and sold. The announcement followed months of lobbying by German car makers who were most agitated about the prospect of a combustion engine ban, alongside pressure from Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
Ed Miliband now finds himself defending Britain's 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles, five years ahead of what the EU was planning, with no major trading partner willing to go as far. The dramatic reversal across the Channel will be seen as a fresh blow to Miliband and Labour's net zero policies that critics say risk damaging industry and driving up costs for households.
The UK's position is more aggressive than the abandoned EU plan. Britain confirmed its 2030 phase out date for new petrol and diesel car sales with hybrids to be sold until 2035. Labour reinstated the 2030 deadline after Rishi Sunak pushed it back to 2035, arguing it would provide industry certainty. That certainty now looks like isolation, with Britain moving faster than the entire European bloc while manufacturers struggle to meet existing targets.
Electric vehicles accounted for just 19.6 percent of the UK market in 2024, with November being the only month to reach the 22 percent market share set by the government's Zero Emission Vehicle mandate. The ZEV mandate requires 28 percent of sales to be zero emission vehicles in 2025, targets that increase annually until the 2030 ban. Manufacturers missing these targets face fines, creating constant tension between government policy and market reality.
Andy Palmer, former chief executive of Aston Martin, warned that the UK would have to follow the EU's lead because of the high number of vehicles traded between the two areas, arguing that if the EU drops their ban, factories there won't ramp up EV production in the way forecast. Robert Forrester, chief executive of top car dealership chain Vertu, said the European reversal made the EU appear more pragmatic and flexible than the UK.
Shadow Net Zero Secretary Claire Coutinho argued the government should back consumer choice rather than force people into electric cars. Industry groups echoed the concern. Sigrid de Vries, head of Europe's automotive trade body ACEA, said the original 2035 target is no longer realistic given the lack of charging infrastructure, inconsistent incentives, and falling competitiveness, especially as China continues to flood the market with low cost EVs.
The government's response has been defiant. A UK government spokesman said the government remains committed to phasing out all new non zero emission car and van sales by 2035, noting that November saw another month of increased sales with EVs accounting for one in four cars sold. A review has been pencilled in for 2027, though that feels like kicking the problem down the road rather than addressing it.
Environmental groups reacted angrily to the EU's climbdown, with Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, saying weakening the rules would keep European households stuck driving dirtier and more expensive petrol cars for longer. But manufacturers see it differently. Volvo and Polestar criticised calls to soften the ban, warning that policy uncertainty could hand an advantage to Chinese electric vehicle makers that are already scaling rapidly.
Britain is now the most aggressive major economy on combustion engine phase out, moving faster than the EU while facing the same challenges around consumer demand, charging infrastructure, and Chinese competition. Miliband can frame this as climate leadership or as being left holding a policy the rest of Europe has abandoned. Either way, manufacturers are watching Brussels more closely than Westminster, and that should worry everyone involved.
