The UK government has announced a string of measures to help automakers meet their electric vehicle targets, amid the Trump administration imposing 25% tariffs on all vehicles imported into the US.

While the 2030 deadline for the end of sales of petrol and diesel cars in the UK remains unchanged, automakers can now sell full hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles until 2035. Other changes to the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate include exempting small manufacturers, such as luxury supercar firms McLaren and Aston Martin, from the mandate targets, the government said Sunday.

Meanwhile, vans with an internal combustion engine (ICE), as well as full hybrid and plug-in hybrids, can be sold until 2035. Fines for those not meeting the ZEV mandate targets will be cut by 20%, from the current £15,000 to £12,000 per car, Kallanish notes.

“Global trade is being transformed so we must go further and faster in reshaping our economy and our country through our plan for change,” comments UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He expects the “bold changes” to help ensure British firms can export “British cars built by British workers” around the world.

Transport secretary Heidi Alexander adds: “In the face of global economic challenges and stifled by a lack of certainty and direction for too long, our automotive industry deserves clarity, ambition and leadership.”

Mike Hawes, head of UK auto industry group SMMT, has welcomed the move, but called for “greater action.”

“Given the potentially severe headwinds facing manufacturers following the introduction of US tariffs, greater action will almost certainly be needed to safeguard our industry’s competitiveness,” he notes.

However, Dan Caesar, chief executive of lobby group Electric Vehicles UK (EVUK), points out the “dilution” of the ZEV mandate is in “stark contrast to the accelerating ambition of the Chinese and others. UK-based automakers need to fully embrace battery electric or be significantly diminished in time, running the risk of continued job losses.”