With demand for electric vehicles stalling in Britain, car dealers across the country are being forced to slash prices in a desperate bid to shift their existing stock.
The average discount on a new EV has increased by 204 per cent since last January, according to market analysis by What Car?, as dealerships are going to extraordinary lengths to stimulate sales.
It comes just days after the Lords Committee warned the Government that UK drivers are turning their back on the electric transition, blaming a toxic combination of high purchase costs, insufficient charging infrastructure and mixed messaging from ministers.
Below, we reveal the 10 EV models being sold with the biggest cash savings right now, with some offering almost a quarter off the list price.
Huge discounts on new electric vehicles: Dealers are slashing up to a quarter off the price of EVs in showrooms – we explain why and which models are available with the biggest savings
Analysis of the discounts available through What Car?’s New Car Deals service has revealed that, from January 2023 to January this year, the average cash and finance discount on EVs rose from 2.4 per cent to 7.5 per cent.
On average, this equated to dealers knocking an extra £3,149 off the list price of an electric car, taking to the total saving to £4,603.
Its market research also shows that the growth in EV discounts in the last 12 months has far outstripped those for petrol, diesel and hybrid models.
Across these three respective fuel types, the average discount over the last 12 months rose by 3.6 per cent, or £1,256.
What Car? says Vauxhall dealers are now offering the Mokka Electric crossover with almost 24% off the on-the-road price. This equates to a saving of nearly £8,400
Vauxhall is also desperate to shift the Corsa Electric, with dealers slashing the RRP from around £34,000 to £28,000
While this is bad news for car makers and their profits, the huge discounts presents a decent opportunity to anyone who was already considering purchasing an EV.
The biggest saving available is on the Vauxhall Mokka Electric crossover.
The 100kW Design 50kWh version has a retail price of £36,610, but What Car? says you can now pick one up for £28,231 – that’s almost £8,400, which is a discount of almost a quarter (23.5 per cent) of the RRP.
The smaller Corsa Electric is also subject to savings of more than 18 per cent.
Instead of the list price of £34,080 for a 100kW GS 50kWh example, customers can get their hands on one for £28,035 – that’s more than £6,000 off the RRP.
Peugeot’s e-208 is being slashed by 16.2 per cent, while Fiat’s 500 Electric city car is being flogged for 16.2 per cent less than the standard RRP.
Even Fiat’s all-new 600e – which have only just started to arrive in UK showrooms – are available with massive discounts of almost 10 per cent.
Below is the full list of the biggest EV discounts. If you’re reading this story on the MailOnline app, click this link to view the table in a web browser
| Model | Trim | RRP | Dealer discounted price | Discount (£) | Discount (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vauxhall Mokka Electric | 100kW Design 50kWh 5dr Auto | £36,610 | £28,231 | £8,379 | 23.5% |
| Vauxhall Corsa Electric | 100kW GS 50kWh 5dr Auto | £34,080 | £28,035 | £6,045 | 18.3% |
| Peugeot e-208 | 115kW Active 51kWh 5dr Auto | £32,400 | £27,299 | £5,101 | 16.2% |
| Fiat 500e | 70kW 24kWh 3dr Auto | £28,195 | £24,212 | £3,983 | 14.6% |
| Peugeot e-2008 | 115kW Active 54kWh 5dr Auto | £36,500 | £31,434 | £5,066 | 14.3% |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E | 198kW Select 72kWh RWD 5dr Auto [Tech+] | £53,830 | £46,830 | £7,000 | 13.0% |
| Nissan Ariya | 178kW Engage 87kWh 22kWCh 5dr Auto | £44,645 | £40,466 | £4,179 | 9.4% |
| Fiat 600e | 115kW Red 54kWh 5dr Auto | £32,995 | £29,995 | £3,000 | 9.3% |
| Citroen e-C4 | 100kW Max 50kWh 5dr Auto | £35,135 | £32,505 | £2,630 | 7.7% |
| Renault Megane E-Tech | 160kW Equilibre 60kWh Optimum Charge 5dr Auto | £34,495 | £32,133 | £2,362 | 7.0% |
| Source: What Car? |
Peugeot is said to be knocking over £5,000 off the list price of a new e-208. It should cost £32,400 but is now being offered to customers for just £27,299 – a discount of 16.2%
Fiat dealers are knocking back the RRP on a 500e city car buy almost 15%, What Car?s research found
Peugeot’s e-2008 is another EV that’s subject to massive discounts, with drivers able to get £5,000 off the OTR price
What’s triggered makers to offer huge EV discounts?
The massive savings available on battery-powered cars today is the result of a double whammy on green motors.
The first is the recent dramatic decline in demand for EVs among private buyers.
Official car sales data held by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) shows that electric car sales to consumers – not fleets or businesses – fell by a quarter (25.1 per cent) year-on-year in January.
The trade body’s chief executive Mike Hawes previously said the UK was now ‘probably in the bottom half in Europe’ for driver demand for EVs, falling below nations such as France, Germany, Ireland and Portugal.
He attributed this to a lack of incentives in the UK, though a report compiled by Lords Committee earlier this month said it is linked to EV prices being too high, the slow roll-out of public charging and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to backtrack outlawing new petrol and diesel car sales, in September pushing the ban deadline back five years to 2035.
Dealers are currently offering a 13% saving on the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which is £7,000 off the RRP
The Nissan Ariya is a relative newcomer to the UK market but already the Japanese brand is knocking around £4,000 off the price of new examples
The committee also pointed the finger at comedian and petrol-head Rowan Atkinson.
The Mr Bean actor, 69, had described the green machines as ‘a bit soulless’ in a comment piece he penned in June last year for the Guardian.
The Lord’s environment and climate change committee claimed he was partly to blame for ‘damaging’ public opinions on EVs.
The second factor forcing car manufacturers to cut their EV prices is the introduction of the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate this year.
The Lords Environment Committee has partially blamed actor Rowan Atkinson for the recent downturn in fortunes for EV sales
Electric future: The ZEV mandate will force car makers to sell an increasing volume of EVs between now and 2035
With the ZEV mandate brought into law in January, it means 22 per cent of each mainstream brand’s car registrations in 2024 must be electric, scaling up to 28 per cent for next year and to 80 per cent by the end of the decade – before rising to 100 per cent from 2035.
Failure to meet the ZEV mandate sales targets can result in huge fines for auto makers of £15,000 per model below the required threshold.
With EVs in January making up just 14.7 per cent of all new car sales, according to the SMMT’s latest report, most mainstream manufacturers will need to trigger a dramatic uptake in EV registrations in order to meet the 22 per cent ZEV mandate requirement by the end of the year.
As a result of the two-pronged issues, a number of car makers are today offering double-digit percentage discounts on EVs.
What Car? says that only two manufacturers in January 2023 were willing to slash over 10 per cent off their line-up of EVs – last month, there were six makers offering such sizable discounts.
Fiat’s 600e is so new to the market, you’ve probably not seen one on the road yet. And still the car maker is slashing prices
Citroen’s e-C4 was discounted by more than 7% last month as dealers looked to shift stock
Renault’s direct rival to the Citroen e-C4 above is the Megane E-Tech. The French marque is trying to entice customers with a 7% discount on list price
Steve Huntingford, What Car? editor, said EV sales are currently being propped up by fleet registrations thanks to tax rules favouring drivers of company and business vehicles.
He says the ‘extensive discounts’ we’re now seeing are targeting private buyers in a frantic bid to make more people switch to greener models so manufacturers can avoid financial punishment via the ZEV mandate.
‘It will be interesting to see if these incentives can tempt more private buyers to go electric in 2024, particularly in light of the mandate,’ he added.
‘With some brands offering up to a fifth off the price of an EV, the importance of shopping around has never been clearer.’
