Bentley boss blasts Labour plans to bring back 2030 EV deadline

• Adrian Hallmark said Labour’s bid to reinstate 2030 ban would be a ‘mistake’
• He confirmed Bentley’s first EV has been delayed by a year from 2025 to 2026
• This is due to fall in demand for electric cars and the lack of public chargepoints

The boss of British luxury car firm Bentley has blasted Labour plans to reinstate the controversial 2030 electric vehicle deadline if it gets into power.

Chairman and chief executive Adrian Hallmark warned it would be a ‘mistake’ to bring forward the ban on petrol and diesel cars from 2035 to 2030.

He appealed for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer to reconsider his plans as motor firms in the UK and internationally experience a slow-down in demand for pure electric vehicles (EVs).

He also said Level 3 self-driving autonomy – where a driver can take their hands off the controls and doesn’t need to pay attention to the road – is ‘dangerous’ and would not be adopted by Bentley.

Bentley chairman and chief executive Adrian Hallmark warned it would be a ‘mistake’ by Labour to reinstate the 2030 electric vehicle deadline after the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars was pushed back to 2035 only last September

Speaking as he announced healthy profit and sales results for 2023 – boosted by record levels of personalisation – Mr Hallmark said Bentley was already at ‘full-speed’ and ‘fully committed’ to the switch to electric – with five pure EV vehicles planned over five years – and with all the investment ‘locked and loaded’.

But he said the launch of Bentley’s first full electric car has had to be postponed by a year – from 2025 to the end of 2026 – for a combination of technical reasons and lower than expected customer-demand fuelled by the shortage of public charging points.

To bridge that gap and to reduce ‘risk’, Bentley is now putting greater emphasis for an extended two-year period on petrol-electric plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powered vehicles until 2031-2 when the full Bentley line-up would be electric-only.

To do otherwise would be financially ‘reckless’ in the face of reality, he said while updating future forecasts.

Mr Hallmark said Bentley was already at ‘full-speed’ and ‘fully committed’ to the switch to electric – with five pure EV vehicles planned over five years – and with all the investment ‘locked and loaded

Bentley is currently investing more than £2.5billion over 8 years to 2030 to complete its transition to exclusive EV production

Keir Starmer promised he would reinstate the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars within months if it wins the next general election

But Labour’s plans to reinstate the controversial 2030 deadline would send them back to the drawing board, create economic uncertainty, scupper their timetable for electrification, and prove needlessly costly to the firm which employs 4,000 people in Crewe and exports its luxury performance cars around the globe as a huge export earner for the UK, warned Mr Hallmark.

READ MORE: Electric cars will be CHEAPER to make than petrol models by 2027 driving down prices – but higher repair costs mean EVs will more likely be written off 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced in September last year that the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030 would be moved back to 2035 – where it had earlier been.

However, Labour shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the Financial Times in early October that Labour would reinstate the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars within months if it wins the next general election, claiming it would restore ‘certainty’ for the car industry.

But Bentley chief Mr Hallmark said it would have exactly the opposite effect, creating more uncertainty and confusion.

He said: ‘There’s an election coming in May or November. Labour has said it would reverse the government’s 2035 deadline.

‘It would be a mistake going back from 2035 to 2030. It would create uncertainty.’

Bentley’s first EV has been postponed by a year – from 2025 to the end of 2026 – due to lower than expected customer-demand fuelled by the shortage of public charging points. Ray Massey poses with the electric Bentley EXP 100 GT concept car

It takes up to eight years to develop a new vehicle. Having already had to revise their plans once, it would be damaging to have to do so again, he said.

Bentley is currently investing more than £2.5billion over 8 years to 2030 to complete its transition to fully electric car production. Bentley’s financial performance was ‘heavily influenced by record levels of interest in luxury personalisation’.

Three-quarters of customers explored 46billion option configurations, with bespoke content from Bentley’s Mulliner division enjoying a 43 per cent rise over 2022.

Some customers spending £250,000 on a car spent as much again on personalisation.

Customers were also choosing the most expensive model versions – accounting for 70 per cent of sales, up from 30 per cent in 2022.

Currently, Britons can only legally activate Level 2 automated-driving systems. However, the Government is currently trying to push through its Automated Vehicles Bill to allow for cars with Level 3 automation

Level 3 is also referred to ‘conditional automation’ and means a drivers can take their hands and feet off the controls and are not required to keep their eye on the road while the system is active

On self-driving tech, Mr Hallmark said his cars would not progress to Level 3 autonomy because it was ‘too dangerous’ and created ‘ambiguity’ about whether the driver or the car itself was in charge.

Instead, they would remain at an enhanced version of Level 2 (L2++) until there was proven Level 4 autonomy with greater ‘clarity’, he said.

Mr Hallmark said that despite economic headwinds and future uncertainty: ‘It was another great year for Bentley.’

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