Aston Martin Is Furious About The UK's 'Disastrous Or Pointless' Internal Combustion Ban

The internal combustion ban is ‘either disastrous or pointless’, according to the CEO of Aston Martin, whose development plans may have been radically altered by the move.

Andy Palmer has hit out at the proposals that fail to take into account potential British job losses, for example at internal combustion engine plants like Ford’s in Bridgend. Speaking to Autocar, he said:

“It’s not thinking about the consequential effects to the 800,000 people in our industry. It’s not taking into account the impact to things like petrol station garages and the [Ford employees] who have been making engines in Bridgend.”

He went further than that, indicating that the move will waste vast amounts of money that has been and is being poured into clean combustion technologies by a wide variety of car makers. The former Nissan man also said a move to all-electric cars would harm the British economy because manufacturers like Aston Martin would have to source batteries and associated technology from the Far East, “where they’ve been working on it with government aid for years” instead of building their own engines.

The UK government has pledged £2.7 billion to help improve the infrastructure needed to persuade people into electric and hybrid cars, but Palmer says more is essential if companies like Aston Martin are to stay in the UK after Brexit:

“We’re all in this, so if the government want us to throw away our engines, then it has to work with us – or it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. We don’t have the might of Volkswagen or BMW behind us for budget.

“(The timing) is the worst possible because it’s far enough away to not be of immediate concern, but close enough that it affects investment decisions. We’re trying to keep a car business in the United Kingdom.”