A MAJOR car brand could be forced to axe one of its best-loved budget cars within years unless the Government softens its electric vehicle rules.
The Korean giant has warned the long-running hatchback may disappear from UK showrooms before 2030 because it cannot meet strict upcoming EV targets.
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A motors brand has warned it may have to pull a popular hatchback out of showrooms Credit: Darren Liggett: Irish Jattvibe Motori
The Kia Picanto Supermini has racked up over 260,000 sales Credit: Adam Warner
The Kia Picanto Supermini has become a familiar sight on British roads over the past two decades, racking up more than 260,000 sales thanks to its low running costs and tiny price tag.
But Kia UK boss Paul Philpott admitted the petrol-powered Picanto faces a grim future under current Zero Emission Vehicle mandate rules, which demand an increasing percentage of car sales must be fully electric.
Under the regulations, all new combustion-engined cars sold after 2030 must include some form of hybrid technology, before a total ban on new petrol and diesel cars comes into force in 2035.
That spells trouble for the Picanto because Kia has no plans to add hybrid tech to the tiny 1.0-litre city car, according to reports from Autocar.
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Philpott bluntly warned: “We cannot sell the Picanto as a petrol car beyond the end of 2029.”
He added the company would either need to replace the model entirely or “give up” on the small car market altogether — something several rivals have already done as manufacturers scramble to meet EV quotas.
The crunch comes because pure petrol cars actively hurt a brand’s compliance figures under the ZEV mandate, with 33 per cent of all new car sales needing to be fully electric from 2026.
That target then rises to 38 per cent in 2027 before rocketing to a massive 80 per cent by 2030, leaving car makers facing difficult decisions over which petrol models survive.
Philpott admitted Kia may soon be forced to prioritise its biggest-selling models, including the hugely popular Sportage SUV, over smaller cars like the Picanto.
If the axe does finally fall, Kia is expected to replace it with a new entry-level electric hatchback, likely called the EV1, which would rival the Renault 5, Citroen e-C3 and Peugeot e-208 in the growing affordable EV market.
