Ford boss Lisa Brankin warns against taxing electric cars

Taxes on electric cars could discourage drivers from buying them at a time when demand has “lost momentum”, the head of Ford UK has warned.

It comes after the BBC reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves could consider new levies on electric vehicles in the upcoming budget.

Ford UK managing director Lisa Brankin told the BBC: “Certainly now is not the right time for this.”

A Treasury spokesman said: “The fuel duty applies to petrol and diesel, but there is no equivalent for electric vehicles. We want a fairer system for all drivers.”

The Chancellor is reportedly considering introducing a new per-mile charge for electric vehicles from 2028.

Ms Brankin told the BBC's Big Boss Interview podcast: “It's [policy]in the face of truly fragile demand for electric vehicles, it's just another brake.”

According to her, the administrator's task of counting mileage will discourage potential electric vehicle owners from making the switch.

“It’s very easy to sell people what they want,” she says. “It's hard to sell people something they don't need.

“Electric vehicles have in some cases gone from being a great thing to something we're trying to push people towards.”

Ford sells the UK's most popular car, the Ford Puma, and its Transit commercial van is the second best-selling vehicle.

For years its Focus model was the most popular in the UK, but the US company has abandoned the hatchback and last week the last Ford Focus rolled off the assembly line in Germany.

It employs around 6,000 people in the UK and has an engine plant in Dagenham and a transmission plant in Halewood. Cars have not been produced here since 2013.

Like other carmakers, Ford is under pressure to meet Britain's net-zero emissions plan, part of which states that 80% of new car sales must be zero-emission vehicles by 2030 or face fines.

The government has reinstated a grant of up to £3,750 to encourage drivers to buy electric cars.

Ms. Brankin said Ford would not have been able to reach that 80% goal without government assistance such as a grant.

Sales figures from the motor industry society, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), show how far carmakers will have to go to hit the target.

Based on 2025 data through Oct. 31, all-electric vehicles accounted for about 22.4% of total new vehicle sales. This time last year it was 18.1%.

The UK new car market delivered its best performance since 2020 in September, helped by growth Electric vehicle sales reach record levelsAccording to SMMT.

However, Ms Brankin pointed to deep discounts on car dealerships, as well as lower resale values ​​in the used electric vehicle market, as indicators that the market is “distorted”.

“When is it [target] was established a few years ago, the demand outlook for electric vehicles was optimistic and electric vehicles seemed to be gaining traction. We are now seeing that consumer demand is not matching these ambitions,” Ms Brankin said.

Most new electric vehicles are sold to businesses for their employees and benefit from lower 'company car tax' rates compared to diesel or petrol variants.

Ms Brankin called on the Chancellor to maintain this tax break for companies greening their fleets.

The move to electric vehicles could have implications for the nearly 1,800 employees at Ford's Dagenham diesel engine plant, which was Europe's largest car plant when it was built.

Ms. Brankin said Ford had not yet made any decisions about the future of the plant, which will produce diesel engines until 2030.

“We're working very hard on what Dagenham's next life will look like,” she said, but “we haven't set anything in stone at the moment.”