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

The move to ban fully fossil-fuel-powered cars in 22 years' time will harm the UK economy, result in job losses and could even make it difficult for Aston Martin to stay in the UK, says the company's CEO
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.”

The non-hybrid Aston Martin Vantage will be hit
The non-hybrid Aston Martin Vantage will be hit

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.”

Comments

Archive Aston (Aston Martin squad)

Aston you the real MVP

07/27/2017 - 09:18 |
182 | 1

Nah Aston

SURRENDER TO EV - RIMAC

07/27/2017 - 09:30 |
10 | 77

You and I, must form an union of Aston fanboys to defend the glorious 5.9 and 5.2l V12s. Long live Aston Martin!…..PS We might also have a certain JB on our side…

07/27/2017 - 11:40 |
33 | 2

Not gonna lie, the move to turbo engines had me worried. Good to hear mr Palmer talking sense

07/27/2017 - 21:40 |
3 | 0
Archive Aston (Aston Martin squad)

Good guy Aston

07/27/2017 - 09:18 |
19 | 1
Anonymous

Thankfully the AM CEO seems to have a working brain, unlike the the UK goverment.

07/27/2017 - 09:22 |
71 | 1
Rndomgamer3210

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

not only the UK but also Germany and a few other Scandinavian countries that want to ban the internal combustion engine

07/27/2017 - 11:14 |
16 | 3
Saber Ali

Finally someone with influence with the guts to speak out

07/27/2017 - 09:22 |
35 | 1
Alex Webster

Pointless?? POINTLESS??? As a member of ct who cannot legally drive on the road for age reasons (I’ll be there soon) The ban is not pointless. If countries like ours do not start paving the way for an electric future the world will continue killing itself slowly at the expense of MY GENERATION. Other countries will follow. Plus, the rulebook is yet to be decided on how much electricity is to be used in these cars, you may only need to provide a small amount of electrical power to pass these tests. People need to suck it up that the future for not just cars is changing, do you want it better or worse.

07/27/2017 - 09:25 |
9 | 12

I mostly agree but boy you will be hated here

07/27/2017 - 09:33 |
5 | 2

Werent cars like the Prius hurting the enviroment? The best way to save the enviroment in the UK is lowering gas prices so that its cheaper than diesel. I do not understand why people think banning ICEs would improve the enviroment.

07/27/2017 - 09:40 |
2 | 1

I can see that you have good intentions for writting this comment(not for attention or for triggering people), but this ban won’t help anyone or anything.

07/27/2017 - 09:43 |
3 | 0

Yes that is so tru we need to adapt

07/27/2017 - 10:34 |
1 | 1
DL🏁

What he’s saying: “save the jobs!”
What he’s thinking: “save the V12!”

07/27/2017 - 09:27 |
116 | 0

Yes! Don’t you love it when car manufacturers are comprised of petrolheads

07/27/2017 - 12:11 |
15 | 0
Tomislav Celić

Honestly lemme ask you a question CTzens. Would you rather have everyone drive petrol cars, and have petrol for 20 more years. Or give EVs to non car people and have petrol for the next 50 years? Also most of you hate EVs becouse you don’t have self formed opinion, you just hate them becouse someone popular stuffed hatred for EVs in your head.

All I have is two quotes. “Car is a car, nothing less, nothing more”
“If it has four wheels and some tires it’s a car”

Most of you say “real car guys respect all cars” but when someone drives a Prius, or and EV you jump to hate.

Sure, we need electric ships, and planes, but be realistic, it’s easier for us to change, than for boat industry to change.

EVs are good, hell I bet CT even said an Electric Smart was fun to drive.

The greatest thing God gave to humans is adaptibility. We should adapt to the world, not world to us. We will have fun drag racing EVs as much as we have drag racing petrol cars.

This is aimed mostly at people who belive R34 can defeat a Rimac Concept_S in a drag race.

07/27/2017 - 09:42 |
17 | 17

Sorry for a mini rant

07/27/2017 - 09:42 |
2 | 6

Mate, I only rode one hybrid shotgun and I did not enjoy it one bit. I got my dislike for EVs from personal experience. I might enjoy a Tesla, since it is the top of the line electric car, but the rest of the cars are just plain boring looking and not very fun to sit in.

07/27/2017 - 09:49 |
7 | 0

I completly agree with this. I have not had an experience with electric cars and things like teslas look awesome and are obviously fast. I am open to adaptation but where i get frustrated is when the new cars look too futuristic and egg like. I am a 13yr old so i dont know much about this but i would like the manufacturers to make their cars less futuristic although that is a bit much to ask. And the sound of electfic cars is very quiet and i am a big fan of cars with a good sound. But ik that this is what is happening and it is the future so we will all have to get used to it.
I would also like to ask if i am one of those annoying kids who shouldnt be on CT and what j should do to not be like them

07/27/2017 - 10:32 |
2 | 0

That’s bullshit.
We already have E85(yes, 15% petrol, but 15%<100%) and I’m pretty sure there’s a replacement for petrol that’s not being made because USA, China, Russia and other countries profit from selling normal petrol and it would fk up their economy.

07/27/2017 - 11:37 |
9 | 0

i have rode in a taxi Prius, and to be honest…it feels no different than anything i ever rode in before.
i have never even rode in an interesting car.

07/27/2017 - 11:45 |
1 | 1
Anonymous

BR-ASTON-EXIT!!!!!!!!! #MAKEITHAPPEN ASTON DA MVP

07/27/2017 - 09:44 |
1 | 0
HAYABUSA

What’s the point tho. Clearly EVs are the future of automobile technology, and the only viable one. Sooner or later the same petrol bans will be everywhere.

07/27/2017 - 09:57 |
3 | 4
Bring a Caterham To MARS

In reply to by HAYABUSA

If so how come despite automobiles being the only viable future of personal transportations, I still see [those things horses pull, goddammit my brain is peanuts] being used?

07/27/2017 - 10:12 |
1 | 0

Electricity isnt the only viable option… there are hydrogen and synthetic fuels… Where should we get all the energy from to power hundreads of millions of cars? i also think its stupid to fault cars to be causing environmental pollution… Factories etc. in asia, the us and all outside the EU blast out pollution in exceedingly more drastic ways…

07/27/2017 - 11:22 |
9 | 1
Sudip Suresh

What the crapballs

07/27/2017 - 11:28 |
0 | 0

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