Certain internal combustion engined cars will still be available to buy in the European Union after 2035, after a plan to ban them in favour of electric cars met with resistance from several countries within the bloc. However, they still won’t be sold here in the UK, and the UK's ban on brand new combustion-engined cars will also be implemented five years earlier than in the rest of Europe.
An alliance of countries led by Germany, but also including Italy, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, wanted cars that ran on synthetic fuels, or e-fuels, to be exempted from a de facto ban on the sale of all internal combustion engined vehicles, and objected to the plan.
Will Petrol and Diesel Cars Still be Banned in 2030?
- The EU Voting Process so far
- Will Petrol and Diesel Cars Still be Available in the EU After 2035?
- Will Petrol and Diesel Cars now be Available in the UK After 2035?
The EU Voting Process so far
The European Parliament voted in February 2023 to approve new legislation to achieve a 100 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions on new cars sold within the EU by 2035.
The law would forbid car manufacturers from selling cars which emit any exhaust pipe CO2 at all, effectively meaning they would be restricted to selling purely electric and hydrogen cars.
However, a final confirmation vote, scheduled for 7 March of that year, was postponed over fears that the alliance could vote the new legislation down.
Since then, the European Commission and Germany, which is home to several car makers that have invested heavily in research and development of e-fuels, have reached a deal to include the exemption within the legislation.
Will Petrol and Diesel Cars Still be Available in the EU After 2035?
Yes, petrol and diesel cars will still be available in the EU after 2035, although the caveat is that these cars will have to run on synthetic fuels. As yet, though, there has been no word on how this will be enforced or policed.
Normal, non-synthetic fuels will remain available at petrol pumps for many years to come, in order to enable petrol and diesel cars sold before the ban came into force to remain on the road.
And unless newer models are made somehow incompatible with these older fuels, there’ll be nothing to stop buyers of such cars from using them.
Will Petrol and Diesel Cars now be Available in the UK After 2035?
In the early days of the UK formulating its own stance on this debate, spokesman for the Department for Transport said that the UK would likely follow the EU’s lead on the matter. Almost immediately afterwards, the then British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps overruled the spokesman, telling reporters: “We are not in Europe; we don’t have to do what Europe does. We’ve always been more forward-leaning on this stuff than the EU.”
Since then, the timescales for the UK's approach on the impending petrol and diesel ban have changed numerous times due to the changing views of successive prime ministers and Government administrations, leaving a fair amount of confusion among the public. Following the election of Sir Kier Starmer's Labour Government in 2024, an announcement was made in April 2025 clarifying the UK's latest stance on the issue.
Essentially, the UK will ban the sale of brand new petrol and diesel cars in 2030, while hybrid cars (with the exception of mild hybrids, which don't count as hybrids under the legislation due to the minuscule amount of electrical assistance given to the petrol/diesel engine) will be allowed to be sold until 2035. Cars that run on eFuels will not be allowed beyond 2030, either.
For more information, read our full guides: When Will Petrol and Diesel Cars be Banned? and Government Changes Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandate.