Fiat Go It Alone On EV Grant

Fiat have announced that they are aiming to reinvigorate electric vehicle sales by offering a huge cash incentive for buyers to turn to electric, while at the same time calling on the government to bring back their own grants.

The Fiat E-Grant comes in at £3,000, twice as much as the sum offered to prospective buyes when it was closed exactly one year ago. The grant is available on all electric 500 and 500 Convertibles.

The Italian automobile manufacturer has also penned an open letter to the UK government of requesting that it join it in offering incentives to citizens of that country to make the move.

Data on electric vehicles suggests that the exponential expansion of the vehicle segment in the UK is starting to slow, while other data has revealed that demand for electric cars has declined by 65% year-on-year. These results suggest that the growth of the vehicle segment in the UK is beginning to slow.

Despite the fact that the Plug-in Car Grant has been eliminated, similar programmes are still active in 21 European countries today, with countries like Germany and Spain offering large incentives of up to €9,000*, including other countries in the European Union.

“There’s no doubt the government’s Plug-in Car Grant successfully kickstarted the UK’s electric car revolution – it supported the sale of nearly half a million electric cars,” said Fiat’s UK Managing Director Damien Dally. 

“We also appreciate it refocusing funding towards one of the main barriers to the electric vehicle transition, public charging. 

“However, with the cost-of-living crisis and rising cost of electric vehicles, coupled with our net zero climate targets, we believe more needs to be done to incentivise individuals to be able to afford to make the switch.”