BMW sustainability chief: ‘don’t ban ICE’
15 November 2023
BMW sustainability chief Thomas Becker says banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is not the answer to addressing the climate crisis – and said Rishi Sunak’s delayed ban of ICE cars to 2035 will not affect its EV plans.
“We didn’t support it in the outset,” he said. “We are critical towards banning.”
Policymakers should instead focus on incremental targets rather than a blanket ban that’s more than a decade away. He also questioned the track record of political policies remaining in place for 10 to 15 years, suggesting that leaders could row back on plans to outlaw ICE in years to come.
“We don’t centre our strategy only on political discussions. We base it on feedback from our customers.”
Earlier this year, Cupra boss Wayne Griffiths labelled the now-rescinded 2030 ban “dogma” and said “you need to convince and motivate a lot more people to purchase electric cars before you start to prohibit combustion cars”.
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