Most UK car dealers expect 2026 ZEV mandate to be met

Nearly six in 10 (57%) used car dealers in the UK expect the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate for this year to be met, according to new data from January’s Startline Used Car Tracker.

Introduced by the UK Government in 2024, the ZEV mandate requires a minimum proportion of a car maker’s sales to be zero-emissions vehicles. In 2024, the ZEV mandate figure was 22%, and rose to 28% in 2025. For 2026, the requirement has been increased once again to 33%.

By 2030, 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in the UK must be zero-emission. The threshold will increase to 100% by 2035. Carmakers who fail to meet the mandate will either be fined £15,000 per car or will have to ‘trade’ certificates with peers who have met the target.

However, Startline’s findings also showed that 44% of the 303 consumers and 60 dealers it surveyed believed that the government would soon be required to revise its ZEV mandate targets. Meanwhile, 20% responded that the targets for the rest of the 2020s are unachievable.

While final figures for manufacturers’ 2025 performance have yet to be released, Startline believes that the overall mandate target was missed by a handful of percentage points, despite the introduction of the Electric Car Grant scheme in July last year.

“It’s clear the ZEV Mandate is an area where dealer opinion is very much divided, with 44% believing the targets are unattainable in their present form and will need to be revised and relaxed,” commented Startline Motor Finance CEO, Paul Burgess. “It’s notable that the government has already said it will bring forward its date to reexamine these from 2027 to this year.”

Startline’s latest research also found that over 70% of respondents felt that more government support is needed for new electric car sales, and 74% required the same for used, despite used EVs leading the second-hand market as recently as December last year.

Burgess continued: “The high level of support for used car market intervention revealed here is notable. There is an argument that the functioning of the used market is the weakest area of the whole electrification process at the moment.”