EVs are here to stay, says Cupra boss

Legislators need to come together with a pan-European initiative to shock the electric car market into life, according to Cupra and SEAT chief executive Wayne Griffiths. 

He said the industry and governments should “get on board that EVs are here to stay”, and back the technology with positive action, rather than use “prohibition and threat” around banning other fuel types. 

According to Griffiths, the car industry is now at the point where it can deliver affordable and interesting vehicles to meet customer demand. “What we need to do is provide the cars that make electromobility accessible, in terms of price and range which, up to now, has been restricted, so they’ve been expensive electric cars with low ranges,” Griffiths told Auto Express. 

“Now that’s all going to change with the electric vehicle platform that we are developing. That is going to be a big game changer – cars at affordable prices, with great range and very emotional products.”

Griffiths said more needs to be done in terms of persuading consumers, rather than making people feel guilty about running combustion models or hitting them in the pocket. 

He continued: “You need to give a reason why; why should the consumer make that switch, and not just because they should have a bad conscience if they drive a combustion car, or threatening to ban or fine combustion cars – it shouldn't just be prohibition and threat.

“There should be incentive and motivation two ways – one by telling them that if they use an electric car, they will save a lot of money, and then communicating that electric is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. At least in automotive, this is the solution to decarbonization and getting to zero emissions.”  

Griffiths said that in time new technologies may replace electric, but “don’t wait for the next one coming along”, because new car development cycles mean that EVs are the only way to hit 2035 zero-emission deadlines.

“Electric is the thing that’s coming, take these doubts away. Because I think at the moment, there’s a lot of doubt out there whether this technology really is going to be the technology of the future,” he declared.

One solution that would help address this, he believes, is for legislators to come together at a European level, rather than having individual markets moving at different speeds and issuing their own incentives and penalties. 

“We need to not just leave it to each individual member state, but do more at European level, policy level, promoting electric cars,” he concluded. 

“Not just putting fines, targets and regulation in, but putting something to incentivize it, and also asking their member states to provide the charging infrastructure to make sure that these cars can be used. They put the date in for zero emissions in 2035, now we need to have the policy in there to achieve that.” 

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