Honda in Swindon

Lord Brabazon of Tara Excerpts

Tuesday 19th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Brabazon of Tara (Con)]

My Lords, will my noble friend acknowledge that the future of diesel has been an issue in this, as it was with Nissan? Owners of diesel cars have been demonised in recent years, probably quite rightly, but I am told that a modern, brand new diesel car is just as clean as a slightly older petrol car. The problem is that there is a great deal of uncertainty in the industry, and particularly with the general public, about whether it is all right to buy a diesel car at the moment. This is causing problems for the industry. Can my noble friend assure me—I fear she will not be able to—on whether, if I bought a new diesel car today, there would be any restrictions, taxes or charges put on that car in the next five years that would affect its second-hand value? That is what is causing the problems in the diesel car market.

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

While I would love to give my noble friend that assurance, it is clearly not possible for me to do so from the Dispatch Box. The number of new diesel cars is declining at the moment, although it should be pointed out that the proportion of diesel cars that Honda was making in Swindon was only around 10%, which is not a huge proportion in the context of its total production. However, there has to be a balance and the move to electric cars is a good thing, once we can improve their range. We should focus our energies on making sure that electric vehicles are the sort of vehicles that consumers need.