![\"C10REEVCGI\"](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/plug-in-hybrid-strategy-divides-european-carmakers-as-chinese-competition-and-policy-shifts-accelerate-ev-transition.jpg\" "\\"C10REEVCGI\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nSome manufacturers are going electric-only while others hedge their bets \u2013 but decision deadline looms<\/p>\n
Car makers in Europe are divided on whether upcoming replacements for big-selling family cars should come with the option of a plug-in hybrid<\/a>\u00a0drivetrain\u00a0or not.<\/p>\n The arguments are compelling on both sides. Offering a car\u00a0with both an electric motor and a combustion engine hedges your bets and keeps hold of customers sceptical of going electric. On the other hand, going all-electric avoids the expensive duplication of drivetrains, one of which might not even be allowed after 2035.\u00a0<\/p>\n Range-extender vs plug-in hybrid: How is REx different to PHEV?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe are committed to an electric future, but we need to move the laggards on the adoption curve too,\u201d Jim Baumbick, head of Ford<\/a>\u00a0of Europe, told Autocar.<\/p>\n Ford will\u00a0launch\u00a0a new European-focused Bronco compact SUV<\/a> with a PHEV\u00a0drivetrain in 2028, with two other \u2018multi-energy\u2019 crossovers arriving in 2029.<\/p>\n Having committed itself to the cause, Ford has now become a key advocate, and that means campaigning for regulators in both the EU and the UK to allow PHEVs and their\u00a0close relatives, range-extender (REx) cars, to be sold after the 2035 cut-off for new ICE car sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s essential. We need regulatory reform, and we need it even more in the UK,\u201d Baumbick said.<\/p>\n The Volkswagen Group, however, is wavering on whether to offer a REx version of its new all-encompassing SSP platform for EVs, arriving at the end of the decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re looking at it. We kept our options open to install a range-extender on the platform. At the moment\u00a0it looks less likely,\u201d Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Volkswagen Group brand Skoda<\/a>, said in response to a question as whether the SSP-based\u00a0Octavia<\/a> replacement\u00a0would be hybridised. \u201cWe’re trying to understand range-extender buying motives\u00a0and user experience.”\u00a0<\/p>\n As far as the customer is concerned, there\u2019s little difference between a PHEV and a REx. You charge up the battery at home (or, less likely, at a public charger) and when that charge is gone a combustion engine keeps you moving.\u00a0<\/p>\n For the manufacturer, REx\u00a0cars are more radical in that the platform is engineered first for an EV, rather than an adapted ICE car platform. The battery is usually bigger, the motor is more powerful and the engine is there to charge the battery and act as an electric generator, instead of driving the wheels, which does away with the need for a traditional gearbox et al.<\/p>\n Long journeys are made easier\u00a0but day-to-day faff is higher, said Zellmer:\u00a0\u201cSpeak to drivers of range-extended cars and something they all hate is that, to exploit the full potential of the car, you always have to charge and fully fill up your tank.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile\u00a0EVs are getting better and better, with longer ranges and faster changing.<\/p>\n \u201cThe premiums are starting to pivot away now and focus more on BEVs,\u201d automotive industry analyst Matthias Schmidt told Autocar. \u201c800V BEVs capable of charging from 10-80% in 15 minutes are closing the case on the humble PHEV.\u00a0The transition is\u00a0slowly coming to an end.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Premium brands have dominated the UK’s PHEV market, but that is changing, with their share falling to 39% in the first four months of 2026, from 46% in the same period last year.<\/p>\n Long-range EVs such as the new\u00a0BMW iX3<\/a>, Volvo EX60<\/a> and Mercedes-Benz GLC ELectric<\/a>\u00a0are removing the need for the back-up of a\u00a0combustion engine.<\/p>\n Things are different for luxury brands like Bentley<\/a> and Lamborghini<\/a>:\u00a0PHEV drivetrains\u00a0allow them to keep emotional V8 engines without a crippling CO2 emissions penalty. PHEVs accounted for 93% of all Lamborghini production last year.<\/p>\n The European premium brands are carefully monitoring China, where REx SUVs from local premium brands like Li Auto are eating their market share.<\/p>\n So far, however, apart from Geely-owned Lotus<\/a>, they haven’t committed to developing long-range PHEV or REx cars\u00a0of their own – but that could change.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead it\u2019s the volume brands in Europe that are more interested in REx technology, partly because their need to use cheaper LFP\u00a0battery chemistry limits the range of their EVs.<\/p>\n Renault<\/a>, for example,\u00a0has decided that its\u00a0new EV platform, underpinning the next Scenic and Rafale SUV<\/a> starting in 2028, will offer a REx\u00a0option.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m not saying this is the ideal answer, but for the most anxious customers\u00a0this is what we propose,\u201d Renault R&D\u00a0head Philippe Brunet said.<\/p>\n Range-extenders emerged from China,\u00a0where many car makers started with electric powertrains\u00a0and worked back to combustion.<\/p>\n So far only the Leapmotor C10 <\/a>Hybrid EV\u00a0has made its way over to the UK but, presented with an equivalent electric option at the same price (around \u00a336,000), Leapmotor<\/a> customers are choosing the EV. It\u2019s early days still, but of the 320 C10s sold here in April, only 27 were RExs.<\/p>\n Part of the reason is tax. The electrified market is still dominated by fleet sales, and within that various nudges still push people towards EVs \u2013 especially the so-called \u2018easement\u2019 on PHEVs\u00a0ending in 2028, resulting in much higher benefit-in-kind tax for PHEVs and RExs, depending on the model.<\/p>\n This is complicated stuff, but essentially the time when PHEVs were taxed pretty much as EVs is coming to an end.<\/p>\n Various green groups have pointed out, with compelling evidence, that PHEVs are nowhere near as fuel-efficient as claimed. The EU agreed and rerated their emissions \u2013\u00a0something that the UK delayed (the ‘easement’), likely to protect JLR, but only until 2028.<\/p>\n The problem for car makers is that no drivetrain in history has been buffeted by legislation quite like the PHEV. A small tax tweak can result in the collapse of an entire market:\u00a0witness the Netherlands in 2017 and France in 2025.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n What is hard to ignore, however, is the fact that customer enthusiasm for PHEVs is higher than ever. PHEV sales in the UK climbed a massive 46% in the first fourth months this year to just under 100,000 cars, taking a 13% market share, close behind full hybrids.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one big reason for this: the rise of the Chinese.\u00a0Led by Chery<\/a>, MG<\/a>, BYD<\/a> and Geely<\/a>, they accounted for 44% of the PHEV market in the UK in the first four months of 2026, up from 14% the same period the year before.<\/p>\n Their ability to package large, cheap LFP batteries in practical low-cost SUVs has transformed the market.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the more aggressive Chinese competitors have come in with plug-in hybrids, but they’ve almost marketed them as hybrids,\u201d David Allison, product manager for MG Motor UK, told Autocar.<\/p>\n In the EU, Chinese players are helped by the fact that\u00a0the additional tariffs on Chinese-made EVs don\u2019t apply to PHEVs. This is bringing retail customers into the market, giving them a taste of EV life without the range anxiety.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the fact remains that it\u2019s difficult to know whether anyone is plugging those PHEVs in. Those who do know are manufacturers, which can see user data.<\/p>\n According to Ford, the frequency of plugging in has shot up since the start of the Iran war, as PHEV owners exploit the rising gap in cost between petrol and electricity.<\/p>\n As for persuading customers to carry on plugging when petrol prices settle back down, Ford points to Sweden, where the utilisation rate (charging two to three times per\u00a0week) on Ford PHEVs is 70%, compared with just 10-20% in the UK. 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