Currently reading: Analysis: UK’s ICE ban to have global impact

End of combustion engine sales to cause production upheavals and big changes to brands’ ranges

The decision by the UK government to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles in 2030, with hybrids to follow in 2035, has been welcomed by many, but its impact extends far beyond our borders. There are also significant implications for a global manufacturing network, and it could mean saying goodbye to models that are big-volume sellers today.

While sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEV) in the UK rose by 185.9% year on year in 2020 for a market share of 6.6%, the majority of cars imported still have an internal combustion engine (ICE), be they petrol, diesel, hybrid or plug-in hybrid (PHEV).

Twenty-six countries on almost every continent across the globe supply the UK with cars, and many of them build only ICE-propelled vehicles, the top five of which in 2019 were the Czech Republic, Turkey, South Africa, Poland and Italy.

The car industry accounts for 9% of the Czech Republic’s gross domestic product, and in 2019 it exported 154,468 petrol and diesel models to the UK. It began plugging into the new era last year, though, with the Hyundai Kona Electric and Skoda Citigo iV, plus PHEV versions of the Skoda Superb and Skoda Octavia.

The Czech-built Skoda Enyaq iV will go on sale this year, and there are rumours of another electric SUV to fit between the ICE-powered Karoq and Skoda Kodiaq, although the new Fabia that’s due at the end of this year won’t be electrified.

19 Ev production line

“We have been preparing for transformation of the automotive sector for several years already,” said Vojtech Severyn of the Automotive industry Association in the Czech Republic. “Car manufacturers are, under the pressure of EU regulation, well prepared for upcoming trends. In 2020, they have already introduced several BEVs, including PHEVs, and of course all three manufacturers [in the country, those being Hyundai, Skoda and Toyota] will roll out many other low-emissions models in upcoming years.

“Market development over the past year has shown willingness of customers to adopt low-emission cars in many countries, and car makers will do their best to fulfil climate targets as well as expectations of their customers not only in the UK but all over the world.”

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The Czech Republic isn’t alone in having to alter its automotive manufacturing strategy. South Africa produces no BEVs at all, and its only hybrid is the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, although Toyota is set to start producing a new hybrid model there this year.

The country exported 101,401 vehicles to the UK in 2019, despite the logistical costs associated with it being so far away. These included major sellers such as the BMW X3 and Volkswagen Polo, plus popular pick-ups including the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.

BMW says that it’s currently trying to resolve a technical issue at its X3 plant there in order to produce a PHEV version of the SUV, but with manufacturing of the electric iX3 taking place in China, it seems unlikely that BMW will produce that in South Africa, potentially removing the UK from its list of export destinations in the long term.

BMW is moving to multiple-drivetrain production at many of its plants. Its head of global production, Milan Nedeljkovic, told Autocar: “We’re capable of producing both vehicles with combustion engines and electric drivetrains on a single line and responding flexibly to customer requests.”

He described this as a crucial success factor as the company moves forward with its electrification strategy that includes half of the 25 electrified models it will offer by 2023 being fully electric, including the new iX SUV and i4 saloon that are due this year.

However, BMW told us that it would prefer to see incentives for a move to EVs, rather than the banning of what it calls “certain types of technology”.

Volkswagen has already switched its 116-year-old Zwickau factory in Germany to producing EVs, and over the next few years, the Volkswagen Group will have 35 plants producing EVs on its MEB platform. However, that won’t be the case for its site in South Africa, which exported more than 36,000 Polos to the UK in 2019.

Volkswagen told us that manufacturing a BEV version of the Polo for the UK and other markets would be very difficult, because it simply wouldn’t make any money. Instead, the firm said it will only produce ICE Polos for markets that will take them, such as Africa.

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18 Ford mustang mach e

That may still be a successful outcome for Volkswagen, because, according African Association of Automotive Manufacturers boss David Coffey, sales of new vehicles on the continent could increase from the current 1.1 million per year to more than 5 million by 2035, and most of these will still be ICE models.

Flexibility to meet the demands of the UK and other world markets is key at Mercedes-Benz, which produces the UK-bound Mercedes-Benz C-Class at its plant in East London, South Africa.

The company plans to have six BEV models on sale by 2022, including the EQS luxury saloon that will be launched this year. That will be built at its new Factory 56 plant in Sindelfingen, Germany, which acts as a blueprint for other Mercedes operations around the world and is capable of producing the full range of powertrains on the same lines. The factory in South Africa will require significant investment to adopt this new blueprint, however.

“The Mercedes-Benz production network is global, digital and flexible, and ready for the upcoming electric offensive,” said Jörg Burzer, member of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz for production and supply chain. “Six electric product launches by 2022 underscore the strength and competence of our Mercedes-Benz production sites worldwide.”

Ford will bring its first BEV model, the Mustang Mach-E SUV, to the UK this year, but it’s another manufacturer that will have to alter its strategy, and this could have implications for which models we can actually buy here.

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A Ford of Europe spokesman told us that while the Ford Ranger pick-up currently comes to us from South Africa, it’s unlikely that there will be an electric version. The alternative Ford says could be to “change the product,” pointing out that the electric version of the new F-150 pick-up will enter production in the US this year.

Could that mean we will see the Ranger being replaced in the UK by the F-150? Possibly, although quite how Ford would make the vast truck fit over here remains to be seen.

Already the ban looks like it could mean the end for models such as the Polo and Ranger in the UK as manufacturers radically change their global production networks and model strategies.

Mitsubishi’s decision to leave the UK and Europe and focus on Asia is one sign of regionalisation, but we could see more companies regionalising production to cater for specific markets, forced partly by legislation on powertrains. After years of globalisation within the industry, that might seem like a reversal, but it would bring other benefits, including a reduction in the huge volume of emissions caused by shipping.

The UK may only be a small part of global car production volume, but it’s clear that its decision to ban sales of new ICE vehicles, along with that of other countries, will have an effect worldwide.

Mark Smyth

READ MORE

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The UK's 2030 petrol and diesel ban: Autocar’s response 

Is an ICE ban really the will of the people?

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xxxx 18 January 2021

Still the public gets what the public wants and the private buyers are loving the bev route with few wishing to go back. Ultimately I am hopeing for a 70/30 split in flavour of the bev and then an extension of 2030 deadline.

artill 18 January 2021
xxxx wrote:

Still the public gets what the public wants and the private buyers are loving the bev route with few wishing to go back. Ultimately I am hopeing for a 70/30 split in flavour of the bev and then an extension of 2030 deadline.

XXXX, have you seen any numbers published for the sales of EVs to the public? We know they took 6% of the new car market last year, but i assume that was 95% to people who pay Company car tax (or used to until they got an EV).

xxxx 18 January 2021
artill wrote:

xxxx wrote:

Still the public gets what the public wants and the private buyers are loving the bev route with few wishing to go back. Ultimately I am hopeing for a 70/30 split in flavour of the bev and then an extension of 2030 deadline.

XXXX, have you seen any numbers published for the sales of EVs to the public? We know they took 6% of the new car market last year, but i assume that was 95% to people who pay Company car tax (or used to until they got an EV).

ARTILL, you keep going on about only companies buy bevs, yet never come up with a source.  YOU ALWAYS ASSUME which means nothing.  We do however know 95 percent of 3 series sales are fleet as bmw stated that in an auto car article.

xxxx 18 January 2021
xxxx wrote:

artill wrote:

xxxx wrote:

Still the public gets what the public wants and the private buyers are loving the bev route with few wishing to go back. Ultimately I am hopeing for a 70/30 split in flavour of the bev and then an extension of 2030 deadline.

XXXX, have you seen any numbers published for the sales of EVs to the public? We know they took 6% of the new car market last year, but i assume that was 95% to people who pay Company car tax (or used to until they got an EV).

ARTILL, you keep going on about only companies buy bevs, yet never come up with a source.  YOU ALWAYS ASSUME which means nothing.  We do however know 95 percent of 3 series sales are fleet as bmw stated that in an auto car article.

Meant 95 percent of 3 series phevs are company car sales 

superstevie 18 January 2021

My biggest take from this is that the Polo comes to the UK from South Africa! Shipping is one of the biggest forms of pollution. I would share a link to an article about this, but one mega container ship the length of 6 football fields, pollutes the same as 50 million cars. If 15 of them were rated the same as a country, that would place them 6th overall, between Germany & Japan on the countries list of most polluting. Just 15. How many of them are there? 

BlahBlah43 19 January 2021
superstevie wrote:

My biggest take from this is that the Polo comes to the UK from South Africa! Shipping is one of the biggest forms of pollution. I would share a link to an article about this, but one mega container ship the length of 6 football fields, pollutes the same as 50 million cars. If 15 of them were rated the same as a country, that would place them 6th overall, between Germany & Japan on the countries list of most polluting. Just 15. How many of them are there? 

405line 18 January 2021

Several manufacturers may stick 2 fingers up and pull all sales from the UK entirely as it's just not worth the hassle to make only RHD electric cars for this soon-to-be-pain-in-the-arse-UK-market.

artill 18 January 2021
405line wrote:

Several manufacturers may stick 2 fingers up and pull all sales from the UK entirely as it's just not worth the hassle to make only RHD electric cars for this soon-to-be-pain-in-the-arse-UK-market.

I am sure you are correct. we will see less choice, and cars will generally be more expensive, so will sell in smaller numbers.

With the current tax incentives we will see large numbers of EVs registered into fleets, but i dont see the general public parting with their own cash for an EV for quite some time. I think that ICE powered cars will still sell very well until manufacturers pull them from what they offer here. In the end its the CO2 fleet average figures that will determine what car makers offer us here, but most other parts of the world will carry on buying ICE cars long after 2030