Stellantis last week put a gun on the table and threatened to take out its UK manufacturing facilities if the government didn’t change its position on the ZEV mandate.
Publicly threatening to axe UK manufacturing has become the preferred negotiating tactic by global car makers that, for whatever reason, feel they aren’t being heard through the normal back channels.
In recent years, Nissan, BMW, Toyota, Stellantis and Ford have all warned they will leave the country if the government can’t provide the right environment for competitive vehicle and parts manufacturing.
The biggest recent fear was the effect of Brexit.
