Fiat has renewed its call on the Government to reinstate the Plug-in Car Grant as it warns that the electric car market “is in real jeopardy”.

While Fiat has expanded its own £3,000 grant to further models, it says more needs to be done

The Italian maker of the Fiat 500e and recently launched family-focused Fiat 600e has warned that retail demand for EVs is declining. And it says the Government needs to take urgent action if carmakers are to hit the 2030 target of 80% zero emission vehicle sales under the ZEV mandate.

In January, sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 14.7% of new registrations, with private buyer sales down 25.1% year-on-year.

While Fiat has expanded its own £3,000 grant – the Fiat E-Grant – for customers to show that it is ‘doing its bit’ to support the ZEV mandate targets, it says more needs to be done.

Fiat UK managing director Damien Dally said: “Consumers need further support to have a reason to make the switch to electric.”

The call echoes the findings of a report by the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee published earlier this month, which called for targeted grants to incentivise the purchase of new electric cars.

Dally added: “The good news is the UK has now passed the one million electric vehicles landmark. However, the electric car market in this country is in real jeopardy. Private sales, as opposed to business and fleets, are softening and that’s a trend that needs a collective effort to reverse.

“With the Spring Budget just around the corner, we are urging the Government to reintroduce incentives for consumers or face stifling, or even undoing, all the good work achieved to date and risking endangering net zero climate targets. We’re doing our bit, but there’s only so far we can go.”

Under the Government’s ZEV mandate, carmakers have been set a target for at least 22% of new car sales to be zero tailpipe emissions in 2024; rising to 80% by 2030.

Last June, Fiat launched its own electric car ‘grant’, 12 months after the Government closed the Plug-in Car Grant.

At launch, the Fiat E-Grant was offered on the Fiat 500e and Fiat 500e convertible. The grant is now also available on the new Fiat 600e and Abarth 500e.