Which car brands are going fully-electric? Here's everything we know as of January 2023

From pure gasoline engines, to hybrid cars, and then now to full EVs - it would appear that the range of drivetrain options available to Singaporean drivers has widened in recent times.

Nonetheless, this supposed diversity may not hold for very long. The auto industry is on the cusp of a major upheaval as the threat of climate change looms, and pressure to cut emissions mounts. As quickly as our options appear to have diversified, they now also seem destined to be quickly cut back down - to just fully electrified cars.

Or is that really so?

A clarification before we dive in: Automotive alliances matter

Few marques are truly independent in our world today, where general group directives invariably filter down to individual brands, albeit at varying speeds.

As such, understanding deadlines for the combustion engine proposed by our carmakers requires some context first about the automotive alliances and groups that have gradually come together in the market.

In fact, peering closer will reveal that the progress of a particular brand is often tied to that of a related one.

To start off, the BMW Group includes MINI and Rolls-Royce. Kia comes under the wing of Hyundai Motor Group. Renault and Nissan have been in an alliance for nearly 20 years, with Mitsubishi joining in 2016. And of course, Toyota controls Lexus.

(Things get more complicated if we consider specific technical partnerships - engines are sometimes shared across vastly different brands, for instance - so we won't get into that.)

Then there are the truly sprawling corporations.

Volkswagen Group has a hand not just in its own brand, but also Audi, Seat and Skoda, and to a large extent, lower volume luxury brands including Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche too.

On the other hand, the recently-merged Stellantis now takes charge of brands relevant to us like Alfa Romeo, Citroen, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Opel and Peugeot.

But wait - which brands are already fully electric here?

While deadlines for the combustion engine loom over with some of our favourite carmakers, some newer players have already formed their identities around full electrification.

The undisputed pioneer in this space is BYD, who has had a presence here since 2016. Apart from its T3 van, seven-seater M3e, and e6 mini MPV, it also debuted its first bespoke EV, the Atto 3, this year.

Polestar, on the other hand, is a significantly fresher outfit, spun off from Volvo Cars in 2017. Its first car, the Polestar 1, was a plug-in hybrid Singapore never received, but everything moving forward - starting with the delightfully understated Polestar 2 - will be fully electrified.

And how could we forget Tesla, who vaulted into the Top 10 for new car registrations in 2021 purely off the strength of the Model 3, and in its first official year here? The Model Y has since joined the lineup, and registrations remain relatively healthy as a result of the brand's innate buzz, despite the ostensible lack of updates to the lineup in the near future.

Group 1: Hard deadlines for the combustion engine

Returning to our earlier point, the tables provided below single out particular brands where specific deadlines have been confirmed; otherwise, alliances and groups are referred to collectively.

You'll note that this first group among the mix of names with hard deadlines declared comprise carmakers which we'll (unofficially) broadly refer to as 'mass market premium brands', including Audi, MINI and Volvo.

More interestingly, however, ultra-luxury brands including Rolls-Royce and Bentley will also be found in this group, as will the traditionally uproarious Maserati.

 This article was first published in sgCarMart.