Here are the brands already offering an electric car 'grant'

Following the recent announcement about a new government Electric Car Grant (ECG) there’s been lots of speculation about which new cars will be eligible for the maximum £3,750 discount and you can find our list of the best electric cars under £37,000 we hope will be included here.
We’ve already seen an increase in potential buyers looking for more affordable EVs on Autotrader. But there’s also uncertainty, as buyers unsure about which cars will qualify pause or cancel orders to see where the discounts land, which is a worry for dealers and manufacturers alike. While we wait for confirmation on which cars will get the discounts some manufactures are taking matters into their own hands by offering their own self-funded 'grants' now. Skip to: Leapmotor MG GWM ORA Alfa Romeo Hyundai Volvo Skywell Smart VW, Cupra and Skoda More offers

Leapmotor was the first manufacturer to announce its own “Leap-Grant”. This provides a £3,750 discount off the C10 family-size SUV giving it a starting price of £32,750. Leapmotor is also discounting the compact T03 city car by £1,500. The Dacia Spring rival will now start at just £14,495, making it one of the cheapest electric cars you can buy. To make this offer even more appealing Leapmotor is also providing some very compelling PCP finance deals for private customers.
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MG has also responded by announcing a self-funded £1,500 ‘grant’ towards the price of any privately purchased MG4 or MGS5 effective immediately while it submits its application for the government grant. While a little short of the full £3,750 at this stage MG says it applies on top of any other deal or discount, and will hopefully convince some of those wavering buyers to commit.
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Meanwhile, GWM has shared it will be offering its own "Green Grant" which provides a £3,750 discount on the ORA 03 – the model formerly known as the Funky Cat. Private buyers will be able to take advantage of this initiative across the whole ORA 03 range immediately.
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It's not just Chinese brands getting in on the action. Alfa Romeo has confirmed it will be subsidising its own 'grant' by offering £1,500 off the entire Junior Elettrica range including the sporty Veloce version with 280 horsepower. The discount can also be combined with other incentives including a free home changer and PCP finance deals. We expect other brands within the Stellantis group including Fiat, Vauxhall and Citroën will follow Alfa Romeo's lead.
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Now, Hyundai has announced it will be offering discounts on its entire electric line-up. From today, buyers can get £3,750 off the Inster while the rest of Hyundai’s range including the Kona Electric, the Ioniq 5, the Ioniq 6 and the all-new Ioniq 9 will be offered with a £1,500 discount. To give customers a chance to experience these models before committing to buying them, Hyundai is also providing 24-hour test drives. Additionally, a further £500 discount on the Kona Electric and the Inster is on offer until August 31st as part of Hyundai's summer promotional event.
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Volvo is offering £1,500 off the EX30 and EX30 Cross Country as part of a variety of PCP finance and cash purchase deals. To sweeten the deal Volvo is also throwing in a complimentary Ohme home charger. The EX30 is the only electric Volvo which could be eligible for the government grant due to its sub-£37,000 asking price. However, Volvo is also offering chunky amounts off the EX40 and EC40 for customers who sign up to a PCP.
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Following the initial flurry of manufacturer offers, Skywell is the latest Chinese brand to announce its own ‘EV Switch Incentive’. As a result, private buyers can get a £3,750 discount applied to both the standard and the long-range version of the Skywell BE11 until the 30th of September. This is in addition to the existing offer of a £6,000 deposit contribution which brings the starting price of the BE11 down from £36,995 to £27,245. According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) only two Skywell vehicles were registered last month with a total of just 11 cars sold this year as of the end of June. Given the fierce competition from well-known rivals like the Tesla Model Y and Renault Scenic E-Tech, Skywell will be hoping this new incentive will help its family-size electric SUV to stand out from the crowd.
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Smart is the latest brand to offer its own incentives, and it has decided to cut the price of both the #1 and #3 by £1,500. This ‘Smart EV Car Grant’ works in conjunction with existing offers so in total buyers can receive up to £3,500 off the #1 and £2,500 off the #3 provided the vehicles are registered by September 30. Like many other manufacturers, these offers are enhanced by compelling finance deals to help reduce monthly payments.
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Volkswagen’s ID line-up also provides the foundations for related models in the Cupra and Skoda ranges, so it’s little surprise all three brands have simultaneously announced £1,500 ‘grants’ on various models. This despite the fact most of models have retail prices over the £37,000 threshold for the official government grants, so won’t qualify even when these are announced. Branded as a ‘Grant Guarantee’, it takes £1,500 off the price of a selection of ID.3 and ID.4 models from VW, Cupra doing the same with the ID.3-based Born, which we enjoyed as a long-term test car a while back. It’s the same for Skoda, where the Grant Guarantee is available on all but vRS versions of the Elroq and Enyaq. Good news for the latter, given all are currently priced beyond the £37,000 cut-off where they might otherwise have qualified for the government grant. Across all brands the discount applies to cars ordered before the end of August for delivery on September’s new ‘75’ numberplate.
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There are plenty more bargains to be had even before the government scheme takes effect. This week we spotted a new Vauxhall Corsa Electric advertised with a £11,950 discount, a Renault Megane E-Tech with a £8,589 discount and a MG4 with £9,142 off.
To meet this year’s ZEV mandate target, car makers need 28 per cent of their sales to be electric which is why we are seeing such heavy discounting on new EVs. Due to the constraint that new electric cars must cost £37,000 or less to be eligible for the government’s new grant, we expect manufacturers to adjust the pricing of some of their cars to fall within the criteria. This can only be good news for buyers who will in effect receive an even larger discount, helping to make to switch to an EV more affordable. Back to top