Two engines, one solution? European car makers divided on PHEV and REx tech

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 drivetrain or not. The arguments are compelling on both sides. Offering a car with 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. Range-extender vs plug-in hybrid: How is REx different to PHEV? “We are committed to an electric future, but we need to move the laggards on the adoption curve too,” Jim Baumbick, head of Ford of Europe, told Autocar. Ford will launch a new European-focused Bronco compact SUV with a PHEV drivetrain in 2028, with two other ‘multi-energy’ crossovers arriving in 2029. 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 close relatives, range-extender (REx) cars, to be sold after the 2035 cut-off for new ICE car sales. “It's essential. We need regulatory reform, and we need it even more in the UK,” Baumbick said. 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. “We're looking at it. We kept our options open to install a range-extender on the platform. At the moment it looks less likely,” Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Volkswagen Group brand Skoda, said in response to a question as whether the SSP-based Octavia replacement would be hybridised. “We're trying to understand range-extender buying motives and user experience." As far as the customer is concerned, there’s 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. For the manufacturer, REx cars 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. Long journeys are made easier but day-to-day faff is higher, said Zellmer: “Speak 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." Meanwhile EVs are getting better and better, with longer ranges and faster changing. “The premiums are starting to pivot away now and focus more on BEVs,” automotive industry analyst Matthias Schmidt told Autocar. “800V BEVs capable of charging from 10-80% in 15 minutes are closing the case on the humble PHEV. The transition is slowly coming to an end.” 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. Long-range EVs such as the new BMW iX3, Volvo EX60 and Mercedes-Benz GLC ELectric are removing the need for the back-up of a combustion engine. Things are different for luxury brands like Bentley and Lamborghini: PHEV drivetrains allow them to keep emotional V8 engines without a crippling CO2 emissions penalty. PHEVs accounted for 93% of all Lamborghini production last year. The European premium brands are carefully monitoring China, where REx SUVs from local premium brands like Li Auto are eating their market share. So far, however, apart from Geely-owned Lotus, they haven't committed to developing long-range PHEV or REx cars of their own - but that could change. Instead it’s the volume brands in Europe that are more interested in REx technology, partly because their need to use cheaper LFP battery chemistry limits the range of their EVs. Renault, for example, has decided that its new EV platform, underpinning the next Scenic and Rafale SUV starting in 2028, will offer a REx option. “I'm not saying this is the ideal answer, but for the most anxious customers this is what we propose,” Renault R&D head Philippe Brunet said. Range-extenders emerged from China, where many car makers started with electric powertrains and worked back to combustion. So far only the Leapmotor C10 Hybrid EV has made its way over to the UK but, presented with an equivalent electric option at the same price (around £36,000), Leapmotor customers are choosing the EV. It’s early days still, but of the 320 C10s sold here in April, only 27 were RExs. 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 – especially the so-called ‘easement’ on PHEVs ending in 2028, resulting in much higher benefit-in-kind tax for PHEVs and RExs, depending on the model. This is complicated stuff, but essentially the time when PHEVs were taxed pretty much as EVs is coming to an end. 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 – something that the UK delayed (the 'easement'), likely to protect JLR, but only until 2028. 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: witness the Netherlands in 2017 and France in 2025. 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. There’s one big reason for this: the rise of the Chinese. Led by Chery, MG, BYD and Geely, 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. Their ability to package large, cheap LFP batteries in practical low-cost SUVs has transformed the market. “Some of the more aggressive Chinese competitors have come in with plug-in hybrids, but they've almost marketed them as hybrids,” David Allison, product manager for MG Motor UK, told Autocar. In the EU, Chinese players are helped by the fact that the additional tariffs on Chinese-made EVs don’t apply to PHEVs. This is bringing retail customers into the market, giving them a taste of EV life without the range anxiety. But the fact remains that it’s difficult to know whether anyone is plugging those PHEVs in. Those who do know are manufacturers, which can see user data. 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. 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 week) on Ford PHEVs is 70%, compared with just 10-20% in the UK. The reason is taxation: Swedes get a tax benefit the more they charge their PHEVs. Invested car makers and their suppliers, including ICE powertrain specialist company Horse, are campaigning the EU to save the PHEV. They may yet succeed, especially given the amount of business having two drivetrains instead of one creates for European suppliers. For other car makers, however, PHEVs look a dangerous long-term bet, knocked about as they are by unpredictable forces ranging from local tax changes, Chinese competition, the rise in EV capability and a fast-approaching obsolescence deadline.

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Two engines, one solution? European car makers divided on PHEV and REx tech

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Two engines, one solution? European car makers divided on PHEV and REx tech

Some manufacturers are going electric-only while others hedge their bets – but decision deadline looms

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