He was fired as Aston Martin's CEO and now works with charging stations. Yet Andy Palmer calls hybrid cars the road to Hell.
Former Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer calls hybrid cars the road to hell. He believes the car industry is heading into a dead end that could lead to its downfall, especially in competition with Chinese manufacturers.
Palmer, often referred to as the godfather of electric cars, warns that hybrid cars are just a temporary solution.
"Hybrids are a road to Hell. They're a transitional thing, and the longer you stay in that transitional thing, the less quickly you move into the new world," he says in an interview with Business Insider .
Europe's car industry is facing major challenges. Sales in China are falling, and in Europe the EU is threatening fines of 116 billion Danish kroner if car brands do not comply with new, stricter CO2 requirements.
On the other hand, car brands are appealing to the EU to allow the continued sale of petrol cars and hybrids. But Palmer, who has a past as a deputy director at Nissan and managing director of Aston Martin, believes that the car brands' approach is fundamentally wrong.
– If you only delay the transition to electric cars by diluting it with hybrids, you will be less competitive for a longer period of time, and you will allow the Chinese to continue to develop their market and their lead.
– I honestly think it (hybrids, ed.) is a ridiculous invention, Andy Palmer tells Business Insider.
Palmer has experience going against the grain. 15 years ago, he led the development of the Nissan Leaf, which came to market in the wake of the Tesla Model S.
– At my last board meeting in July 2014, I was subjected to a huge attack from the auditors, who said; we don't make any money on them (electric cars, ed.). We're moving too fast. I managed to win at that meeting, but I left Nissan, he says.
According to Palmer, competitors are now repeating the same mistakes. Nissan has lost its leading position in electric cars, and Toyota and other major manufacturers are focusing on hybrids instead.
Something that gives Chinese manufacturers an advantage. China has, thanks to extreme and in the EU's eyes illegal state support, achieved a dominant position in the electric car market.
Still, Palmer believes that Chinese car brands will become invincible when they first learn to compete on equal terms in Europe.
"Now a final battle awaits, in which only the most competitive car manufacturers will survive. The only salvation is if the West adopts a consistent industrial strategy."
