The UK government must do more to encourage drivers to switch to electric vehicles before Stellantis, owner of the Vauxhall brand, will commit to a full conversion of its Luton van factory to battery-powered models, one of the company’s top executives has warned.

The demands by the vehicle maker, which also owns Citro?n, Fiat, Peugeot and Opel, come as it holds talks with ministers over financial support to convert the plant in Bedfordshire. Last week, Stellantis announced it would begin a “limited” first production run in the UK next year of its mid-size electric vans at Luton, where it currently makes diesel-powered vehicles.

But Uwe Hochgeschurtz, the company’s head of European operations, said the country’s biggest van maker would not commit the funds to convert Luton to an all-electric factory until the government had a concerted policy to encourage drivers to ditch combustion engine-powered vehicles.