The UK’s Lister Cars has withdrawn plans to produce a new model (pictured above), citing ongoing uncertainty over the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, and whether low-volume manufacturers would continue to be exempt from IVA or SVA Type approval.
In a statement released to social media on January 28, 2025, Lawrence Whittaker, the CEO of Lister Motor Company said: “In the past, small-volume British car manufacturers such as ourselves, Morgan, Caterham, Ginetta etc, have been exempt from emission demands because we produce less than 1000 cars per annum under the IVA or SVA Type Approval. However, so far, the UK Government has yet to state if this exemption will continue.”
The ZEV mandate, released on January 3, 2024, dictated that no new, purely internal-combustion-engined cars could be built by 2035, which the current Government then brought forward to 2030. Little guidance has since been released, other than committing to a consultation on the issue.
“This year, our 71st year in business, we had plans to create a brand-new car for the road, our first new model in over 32 years,” Whittaker continued. “This multi-million pound investment would not only secure Lister’s future, but would create many new jobs, not only at our head office and factory, but with many suppliers throughout the UK.
“As it stands, with no clarity on the future rules for IVA or SVA Type Approval cars, we have taken the incredibly difficult and heart-breaking decision to put all future plans on hold. Financially, Lister is in a very strong position with zero borrowings outside our group of companies, but unlike larger manufacturers, we simply cannot afford to gamble on the future of our business. We request an urgent update to the legislation, so we know how to plan for the next five years. All manufacturing needs time to change, cars more than most, and at the moment we are sadly in stalemate.”
We spoke directly to Whittaker about the situation, and what the cancelled car could have been.
“When the previous Government first announced the ZEV mandate, it was quite a long way in the future, so it wasn’t much of a concern,” he said. “The previous Government extended it further into the future to 2035, but the current Government brought that back to 2030. We don’t know whether we should make a petrol car, or make an electric car.”
The Lister Knobbly Continuations have been the firm’s most popular car: “We’ve built 30 of those, but we’ve come to the end of the line with the production numbers because we said we’re just going to make ten of each model,” Whittaker explained. “We had designed a car that brings the Knobbly into the future, with a new shape, a complete carbonfibre monocoque/body. I think there’s a gap in the market for something a little like TVR [used to be] – small volume but really powerful, great-looking and great-sounding vehicles.”
Lister Cars has spent eight months drawing up designs for the new car, but believes it would take a further three years to bring the model to market. “By that point, we’d be two years away from the deadline,” he said.
Whittaker is not averse to electric propulsion – an EV Knobbly has been investigated – but the current vagueness about whether the exemption continues means picking a lane is challenging, especially in the light of poor EV supercar and hypercar sales. For example, in the light of battery supply issues Porsche is rumoured to be investigating hybrid options for the previous EV-only Boxster/Cayman replacement due this year, and even Mate Rimac – an EV hypercar pioneer – believes that the market for such cars simply isn’t there.
“If the Government mandates that all cars have to be purely electric, then by 2030 there will be a demand for electric supercars,” Whittaker said. “But if the mandate is that small-volume manufacturers can continue to operate outside the [SVA/IVA rules] then we would make an ICE car – for anybody who really wants a performance car, the sound and thrill of it is what it’s all about. We can’t go forward and make an EV car if others are still allowed to sell petrol cars by 2030.”
Whittaker, meanwhile, points to EU legislation, which makes allowances for companies that make fewer than 1000 cars per year – but that hasn’t been replicated in the UK. “Our Government hasn’t mentioned anything – there’s just a couple of lines in one of the documents that they’re going to have a consultation about it,” he explained. “My big frustration is that we are completely at a stop now. We don’t know whether we could make a petrol car, or an electric car.”
Whittaker (pictured above) has had to pull the plug on the idea. “We’re in a position where we need to think for the future – a new vehicle would be a £3m-£5m investment, which is not a great deal for large-scale investment, but for us it’s huge,” he said. “We’re not Porsche or Mercedes-Benz, with the ability to sell cars globally and hedge all our bets – we’ve got to get it right first time.”
He believes that the environmental impact of low-volume cars such as ICE-powered Listers is minimal. “With the amount of miles Listers do, it’s such a tiny impact on the emissions the Government is trying to get down,” he told us. “There’s a big question about motor sport, too – are people going to be allowed exemptions for racing cars? Are we allowed exemptions for small-volume road cars? These are all things the Government needs to answer now – because five years is a very short period of time.”
Magneto reached out to the Department for Transport for clarification. In response to Lister’s statement, a spokesman told us: “This is inaccurate. Manufacturers selling fewer than 1000 cars are exempt from the zero-emission vehicle and CO2 targets up to 2030 – as has always been the case. We want to support the sector through the transition to electric, as we continue to deliver our growth mission. We are therefore currently consulting on requirements between 2030 and 2035, including details for smaller manufacturers, and will confirm details in due course.”
The spokesman continued: “The ZEV mandate legislation runs until 2030, and does not implement the phase-out of vehicles. Manufacturers registering fewer than 1000 cars are exempt from all ZEV mandate targets for the duration of the legislation. The Government has not brought forward the 2035 date, which is the phase-out of all new non-zero-emission cars and vans. It has restored the phase-out of cars that rely solely on internal-combustion engines. This will allow some non-ZEVs, like hybrids, to be sold for both cars and vans until 2035. The Government is currently consulting on the phase-out of new cars that rely solely on an internal-combustion engine from 2030. The consultation seeks views on whether manufacturers registering fewer than 1000 vehicles should be exempt from the requirements. See question 10 of the consultation (available here).
“The ZEV mandate has exemptions from all targets for manufacturers registering fewer than 1000 vehicles. This has been in place since the mandate came into force, and the Government has no plans to change this for the duration of the current legislation. The Government is working with manufacturers of all sizes to deliver a successful and growing sector as the UK transitions to zero-emission vehicles.”
However, David Fairbairn, managing director at CALLUM, echoes Lawrence Whittaker’s concerns. “The uncertainty around legislation doesn’t inspire confidence for niche vehicle manufacturers to commit to projects and put the funding in place,” he said. “Given both the low volumes and the limited times these cars are enjoyed on the road, the environmental impact is predicted to be minimal. An exemption such as we see today, feels appropriate.
“Our own SKYE project is fully electric and in effect future-proofed, but the lack of clarity is a roadblock for other collaborations we are working on with customers. A definitive statement would benefit this industry and the supplier base that depends on it.”
More on Lister Cars can be found here.
