Renault boss calls UK petrol car ban 'stupid' and links it to an EU deal

Renault’s chief executive, François Provost, has called the UK’s planned 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars “stupid” and said Britain should drop it if it wants a place in the EU’s protected car market. In an interview with The Sunday Times on 18 October 2026, summarised by Sharecast, Provost said there was “no good date” for requiring 100% electric sales. He also said the UK would need to line up with Brussels on tariffs for Chinese cars to join the “Made in Europe” scheme.

It is the third time in a week that Provost has pressed the point. He made a similar case at the Paris motor show on 12 October, reported by The Guardian, and again on 16 October, when The Telegraph quoted him saying a UK deal would need “some adjustment of the ZEV mandate”. For UK buyers, the comments matter because they tie three separate debates together: the ZEV mandate, possible tariffs on Chinese cars, and Britain’s access to the EU market where most UK-built cars are sold.

What exactly did François Provost say?

Provost’s argument is that UK car policy should match the EU’s, on electric car targets and on China, if Britain wants to be treated as part of Europe’s industry. “The two policies should be consistent,” he told The Telegraph. “CO2 policy. Deal with China. Regulation. If the UK decides it wants to join [Made in Europe], I think as a consequence, the mandatory condition is a deal with China, some adjustment of the ZEV mandate. It is common sense.”

In The Sunday Times he went further, describing the UK’s combustion engine ban as “stupid” and saying there was “no good date” for mandating 100% electric sales.

In Paris he was more diplomatic. “I’m not here to demand whatsoever,” he said, “but I think if UK is willing to join this ecosystem of IAA, there is some open question about the level of imports.” He said Renault wanted an industry that “is not closed to Chinese competitors, but if you want to operate in Europe, you have to deeply invest in the whole value chain, final manufacturing, suppliers, R&D, technologies.”

What is Made in Europe and why does the UK want in?

Made in Europe is the EU’s plan to make sure its subsidies and public spending support cars built in Europe rather than imports. Its formal name is the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA). Under the proposals, cars would have to be built in Europe, with enough European parts and materials, to keep qualifying for EV grants and to be bought by public bodies in the EU.

The problem for Britain is the definition of “Europe”. If Brussels sticks to the 27 member states, UK factories are outside it. That would put cars built at plants such as Nissan in Sunderland, Toyota in Burnaston and Stellantis in Ellesmere Port at a disadvantage in the market where many of them are sold. Toyota, for example, says about 80% of its Burnaston output goes to continental Europe, as we report in our piece on Toyota’s warning over the ZEV mandate.

The UK has lobbied hard to be included, and it has support. Provost and Emanuele Cappellano, who runs Stellantis’s European brands including Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat, both said in Paris that the UK should count as if it were one of the 27. “I think that UK somehow needs to be equalised to the EU 27,” Cappellano said. Europe’s main car industry lobby groups, ACEA and Clepa, back UK inclusion too. Some voices in France, including its industry minister, had argued the UK should be left out because of Brexit.

A Franco-German deal in mid-October set out how the UK could join, which we cover in our report on the UK and Made in Europe. The price, according to reports, is alignment on Chinese tariffs.

What do Renault and Stellantis want the UK to do about China?

Both firms want the UK to stop letting Chinese cars in without limits. Cappellano was blunter than Provost. “It’s very difficult to defend industrial footprint and at the same time let the market completely open to import,” he said. “Either one or the other.”

The EU is already tightening its own rules. On 12 October it confirmed a cap of 350,000 hybrid cars a year imported from China, starting in December, which it expects to halve China’s share of that market from 6%. That sits on top of the anti-subsidy duties the EU already charges on Chinese-built electric cars.

The UK has gone the other way so far. It has no extra tariffs on Chinese cars, which is one reason Chinese brands now take more than a fifth of UK new car sales. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said in October that the decision was under review. Our explainer on possible UK tariffs on Chinese electric cars sets out the options and what they could add to prices, and our report on China’s warning to the UK covers Beijing’s response.

Is Provost right that there is “no good date” for 100% EV sales?

He is making a commercial argument, and it should be read as one. Renault sells some of the most popular small EVs in the UK, including the Renault 5, Renault 4 and the new Twingo. It is not anti-electric. What it objects to is a fixed legal date, set by a single country, that is tougher than the rules in the EU, where Renault sells most of its cars.

There are reasonable points on both sides:

• For Provost’s view. A 100% mandate leaves no room for buyers whose needs are not yet met by EVs, such as some rural drivers or people who tow. Car makers say heavy year-end discounting to hit targets is costing them money.
• Against it. A fixed date gives charging firms, energy companies and battery investors certainty. The groups defending the mandate say it is the UK’s biggest carbon-cutting policy of the decade and that it is already working: battery electric cars took a record 28.3% of the market in September.

It is also worth being clear about what the UK’s rules actually say. From 2030, new cars that run only on petrol or diesel can no longer be sold. Full hybrids and plug-in hybrids can be sold until 2035. Used petrol and diesel cars can be bought and sold indefinitely. Our guide to what the 2030 ban means goes through it in detail.

Where does this leave the ZEV mandate review?

Provost’s comments add to industry pressure on a review that already looks set to soften the 2030 target. Reports in October said the government was considering cutting the share of new cars that must be zero-emission in 2030 from 80% to 60%, after earlier talk of 50%. The 2035 target of 100% would stay.

Who	Position on the 2030 target
Current law	80% of new cars zero-emission
Government, as reported in October 2026	Considering 60%
Toyota	50% for cars, 40% for vans
Renault	Align with the EU and adjust the mandate; calls a 100% date “stupid”
Climate, health and transport groups	Keep 80% unchanged

Our ZEV mandate review explainer covers the consultation itself.

What does it mean for UK car buyers?

In the short term, nothing changes. Renault’s prices, warranties and line-up are not affected by Provost’s comments, and no tariff or rule change has been announced. Over the next year, though, three things could shift what you pay:

1. EV discounts. Much of the discounting on electric cars is driven by the mandate. If the 2030 target is cut, brands will be under less pressure to cut prices, finance rates and lease costs to hit quotas. Our look at the ZEV mandate gap and year-end discounts explains how that works.
2. Chinese car prices. If the UK adds tariffs on Chinese-built cars to join Made in Europe, brands such as BYD, MG, Omoda, Jaecoo and Leapmotor could raise prices or switch production to factories elsewhere. That could narrow the price gap that has made them so popular.
3. UK-built cars. If the UK is left out of Made in Europe, UK plants become less attractive places to build new models. That is a slower-moving risk, but it affects the supply of cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Juke built in Sunderland.

If you are shopping for a small electric car now, Renault’s own range, including the cars that qualify for the Electric Car Grant, is one of the most competitive in the market. Our Renault 5 and Citroën ë-C3 comparison is a good starting point.

What happens next?

Three dates and decisions will settle much of this. The Autumn Budget on 28 October is the first, because any new EV incentives would make a higher mandate easier to defend. The second is the government’s response to the ZEV review, which has no published date. The third is the EU’s final version of the Industrial Accelerator Act, where the definition of “European” and the terms for the UK are still being negotiated.

Provost’s message is that these are one decision, not three. Whether ministers agree is the question the industry is now waiting on.