Petrol and Diesel Reprieve? Why Carmakers Want Britain to Rethink Its 2035 Ban

Just when you thought the UK's road to electric motoring was settled, the industry that's supposed to be building all those EVs has quietly asked ministers to tear up the rulebook. According to a Guardian report, some of the biggest names in global car manufacturing, including BMW, Ford, Nissan, Toyota and parts giant Bosch, have written to the government urging it to scrap the planned ban on new petrol and diesel car sales after 2035.

If that sounds like a U-turn from the very companies that have spent billions retooling factories for electric production, you're not wrong to be surprised. But the story is more complicated than "carmakers hate EVs". It's really about pace, cost, and who picks up the bill when a green transition moves faster than the market wants to go.

What Actually Happened

The Guardian's report centres on a letter, or series of communications, sent to UK ministers by major manufacturers and at least one influential parts supplier. Their message: the 2035 cut-off for new petrol and diesel car sales should be revoked, not softened, not delayed, but scrapped entirely as a fixed legal deadline.

This isn't the first sign of industry unease. The UK has already wobbled on its own targets before. Ministers previously floated softening the 2030 sales targets that preceded the 2035 full ban, a move we covered when the government first signalled it might ease pressure on manufacturers. That earlier shift was framed as pragmatic flexibility. This latest lobbying push goes much further, effectively asking for the entire legal architecture of the ban to be dismantled.

The companies involved are not minor players. BMW, Ford, Nissan and Toyota between them account for a huge slice of new car sales in Britain. Bosch, meanwhile, is one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world, providing everything from fuel injection systems to EV powertrain components. When both vehicle manufacturers and their supply chain start pulling in the same direction, it tends to carry weight in Whitehall.

Why This Matters: A Battle Between Regulation and Reality

To understand why this lobbying is happening now, you need to look at the gap between political ambition and commercial reality.

The 2035 ban was designed to give the UK a clear runway toward net zero transport, phasing out the internal combustion engine while giving manufacturers over a decade to adjust. In theory, a firm deadline creates certainty, and certainty is supposed to encourage investment. In practice, the transition has been messier than planned.

Demand for electric vehicles in the UK has been growing, but not always in the smooth, linear way that policymakers hoped. We've reported on how used EVs and hybrids have surged while combustion models still lead overall sales, and how affordability concerns, charging infrastructure gaps, and pay-per-mile taxation fears have all played a role in slowing enthusiasm. At the same time, sales of new EVs have occasionally outpaced expectations, only for policy uncertainty to undercut momentum again.

For manufacturers, this inconsistency is the real problem. Building a car takes years of planning, tooling, and supply chain commitment. If government policy shifts every eighteen months, whether that's grant changes, tariff uncertainty, or wavering sales mandates, it becomes extremely difficult to plan production lines with confidence. From the industry's perspective, a hard legal deadline that might not survive contact with economic and political reality is arguably worse than no deadline at all, because it invites constant revision and lobbying cycles like this one.

There's also the competitive angle. UK manufacturers and importers are watching Chinese EV brands expand their market share rapidly, often undercutting European and Japanese rivals on price. Legacy manufacturers may feel that abandoning the ban gives them breathing room to compete on their own terms, blending hybrids, plug-in hybrids and combustion models for longer, rather than being forced into an EV-only product line before the market is fully ready.

The Legal Angle: How Firm Is the 2035 Ban, Really?

Here's the important nuance that often gets lost in headlines: the 2035 ban on new petrol and diesel car sales is a policy commitment, not an immovable constitutional fact. It exists through government regulation and stated intent, underpinned by frameworks like the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which sets binding annual targets for the proportion of zero-emission vehicles each manufacturer must sell.

Because this is secondary legislation and policy rather than a treaty-locked obligation, it can be amended, delayed, or scrapped by a government with sufficient political will, much as we've already seen ministers soften earlier 2030 targets. That's precisely why lobbying works. Carmakers know the framework is malleable, and they're applying pressure while the door is still open.

There's a broader legal and regulatory backdrop worth understanding too. The ZEV mandate carries financial penalties for manufacturers who miss annual EV sales quotas, though it also includes flexibilities such as borrowing against future targets or trading credits between manufacturers. Industry figures have previously suggested these penalties and rigid annual targets are part of what's driving frustration, since missing a quota can mean real financial consequences even if overall market conditions are outside a manufacturer's control.

For ordinary drivers, none of this changes what's legal to buy or drive today. Petrol and diesel cars remain fully legal to purchase, sell, and drive indefinitely, even after 2035, if the ban goes ahead. The ban only affects sales of new combustion vehicles from that date. Existing petrol and diesel cars on the road won't be banned, confiscated, or forced off the market. It's worth remembering this distinction whenever ban-related headlines cause a stir, since a lot of public confusion stems from conflating "no new sales" with "no driving allowed".

What Drivers Should Know Right Now

If you're an ordinary motorist wondering what this means for your next car purchase, here's the practical reality:

• Nothing has changed yet. This is a lobbying effort, not a policy announcement. The 2035 ban remains government policy for now.
• Watch for government responses in the coming months. Given that ministers have already softened earlier EV targets once, further concessions are plausible, though not guaranteed.
• Don't let long-term uncertainty drive short-term panic. If you're weighing up an EV against a petrol or diesel model today, current grant schemes, running costs, and your personal driving patterns matter more than a deadline eleven years away.
• Check current EV incentives. The UK electric car grant has already been reshaped, with different models qualifying for different discount levels. If you're EV-curious, it's worth checking which models currently qualify for support before assuming affordability is out of reach.
• Consider hybrids as a bridge. With manufacturers like Kia signalling they'll keep hybrids in the range until 2035, and Toyota historically hedging its bets across hybrid and full-EV lines, the "all or nothing" choice between old and new technology is less binary than headlines suggest.

Looking Ahead

This lobbying push is unlikely to be the last word on the matter. Expect continued pressure from manufacturers, possibly coordinated with supply chain firms like Bosch, as they push for either a full repeal or at least further softening of targets and deadlines. Government will be caught between environmental commitments, international competitiveness concerns, and the political reality that forcing an unpopular or economically painful transition rarely survives contact with an electorate feeling the pinch of cost-of-living pressures.

Whatever happens, the direction of travel toward electrification isn't likely to reverse entirely. Too much investment has already gone into EV infrastructure, battery production, and charging networks for the industry to simply retreat to combustion engines. But the pace, the deadlines, and the penalties attached to missing them remain very much up for negotiation.

For drivers, the sensible approach is to treat the 2035 date as a moving target rather than a fixed wall, keep an eye on official government announcements, and make purchasing decisions based on today's costs and incentives rather than assumptions about a ban that may look quite different by the time it's due to bite.