Vauxhall has announced considerable price cuts to its electric car range in a bid to help drivers avoid paying more than £2,000 in road tax during their first six years behind the wheel. The DVLA’s tax changes have come into effect, with all electric car owners now subject to pay an annual charge of £195 – the same rate applied to petrol, diesel, and hybrid models.
However, Eurig Druce, managing director of Vauxhall, highlighted that the famous car brand has reduced its prices for electric cars to help drivers avoid having to pay the additional expensive car supplement. He said: “With electric cars no longer exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), Vauxhall is making electric mobility accessible and affordable for British drivers.
“The Vauxhall electric car range* now sits below the £40,000 expensive car supplement threshold, saving customers some £2,125 in road tax over the first few years of ownership.”
In addition to the standard VED rate of £195 per year, new car buyers who choose an electric model with a retail price of more than £40,000 will need to pay the expensive car supplement.
Paid from the second to sixth year that the vehicle is on the UK roads, the supplement’s £425 cost brings the total amount that some EV owners will be charged up to a staggering £620.
A number of motoring experts urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to make EVs exempt from the expensive car supplement during the Spring Budget, warning that the move could see demand for electric models over £40,000 plummet.
In a bid to help drivers save £2,125 in road tax, all variants of Vauxhall’s electric vehicle range (excluding the Vivaro Life minivan) have been reduced in price to under £40,000.
This includes the new second-generation Grandland SUV, with the entry-level variant priced from £37,345, and the practical Astra Sports Tourer estate car – starting at £36,145.
The company also recently caused a stir when it revealed that the mild hybrid and fully-electric variants of the Frontera compact crossover feature the identical entry-level price of £23,495.
Whilst Vauxhall, and the Stellantis-owned performance brand Abarth, have both slashed prices to avoid the additional charge, Eurig called on the Government to raise the expensive car supplement’s threshold in line with the current inflation rate.
He added: “The threshold for the expensive car supplement has remained at £40,000 since inception in 2017 despite subsequent high levels of inflation – if it were to have risen with inflation it would now be around £52,000.
“With the average price of an EV in the UK at around £48,000, this new tax means that customers buying some of the more attainable electric cars on the market are now being penalised whilst at the same time we are trying to move as many British motorists to electric as quickly as possible.”