The boss of Stellantis has attacked the government’s “terrible” zero emission vehicle mandate, claiming that it takes no account of how far the 22 per cent target of new electric cars to be sold this year is out of synch with public demand.
Carlos Tavares, chief executive of the automotive powerhouse, who expressed his concerns in private meetings on Wednesday with Mark Harper, the transport secretary, also said the mandate was taking no account of the hundreds of millions of pounds his company was investing in making electric vans and passenger vehicles at its plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton.
Stellantis is the maker of Peugeot, Citroën, Vauxhall and Fiat cars and is reckoned to be the largest manufacturer of all-electric vehicles in Britain. Tavares,
