Ford BOSS: EV mandates THREATEN entire European car industry | MGUY Australia
Well, the boss of Ford, Jim Farley, has penned an opinion piece in the Financial Times, which correctly highlights the existential threat to the European car industry caused by extreme climate policies and EV mandates. Europe, like the UK and here in Australia, believes that people can simply be forced to buy cars they don't want simply by setting targets and mandates, ignoring the fact that most of us hate being told what to do by outofouch governments. So, while some of the more gullible amongst us meekly went out and bought EVs as commanded by our overlords, a far larger number just dug their heels in and flat out refused. Not only that, but the manufacturers are being ground into the dust by the flood of cheap Chinese imports, meaning that the local auto industry is on the brink of collapse, which would be a disaster for the European economy as a whole. We'll go through the article in detail and analyze what he says, but at the end of the day, does Europe care about the survival of its auto industry? Well, if you believe that net zero trumps everything, the answer must be no. Welcome back to MGY, British engineer and lawyer now Sydney YouTuber. If you're one of the many MGY viewers who are not subscribed to this channel, please take a moment to subscribe right now. Doesn't cost anything and you'll be directly helping this channel push back on all the EV and netzero nonsense we're constantly being fed with. Just click the subscribe button down below and enable all notifications and you won't miss out on any future videos. Ford has been at the sharp end of the EV bubble and has seen billions poured into electric models that have failed to capture the public's interest. Models such as the F-150 Lightning truck and the Mustang Mark E have been sales disasters. So, the CEO is only too aware of how little real demand there is for batterypowered cars. So, this article from Jim Farley is fascinating to read. Ford CEO. Europe is risking the future of its auto industry. Setting unrealistic EV regulations only to adjust them when consumers do not show up is a recipe for turmoil. Europe's car industry is watching Brussels with concern again. The European Commission plans to unveil new rules for the transition to electric vehicles, including the evolution of carbon emissions targets. The current rules dictate a rapid shift to EVs. The elephant in the room is that European customers, both individuals and businesses, simply are not buying EVs in big numbers. And this is essentially correct. Most of the purchases have been driven by incentives and subsidies, which are not representative of genuine demand. Brussels is not alone in issuing regulations that are out of step with market reality. The UK government recently announced a new tax to charge EV drivers 3p for every mile driven while at the same time offering a discount of up to £3,750 on a new EV. One foot on the gas, one on the brake. These kinds of contradictions leave buyers confused and frustrated. I made this exact point just a few days ago. The chaotic mess the UK has found itself in with carrots on the one hand cancelelling out sticks on the other. European policy makers say they want a sustainable auto industry. But setting unrealistic regulations only to adjust them at the end of each year when consumers do not show up is a recipe for turmoil. This approach disrupts a complex cycle of product design, engineering, and supply chains that require long lead times and billions in investment. We urgently need a regulatory framework for Europe that provides a realistic and reliable 10-year planning horizon. Well, we've seen how Europe is wavering on its original plan for a complete ban on combustion engines by 2035. This kind of arbitrary target is very easy to say out loud, but impossible to achieve in reality. And again, just recently, we've seen the German chancellor push back on these targets and indications that Europe will bend. On one side, we face the world's most aggressive carbon mandates, regulations that demand a pace of electrification that is decoupled from the reality of consumer demand. On the other, we face a flood of state subsidized EV imports from China, structurally designed to undercut European labor and manufacturing. China has more than enough manufacturing over capacity to sell to every new vehicle customer in Europe. Chinese brands have doubled their market share in the region in just 12 months, reaching a record 5.5% in August. Meanwhile, the market share of EVs in the EU has stagnated at about 16%, well behind the 25% required to meet Brussels 2025 targets. And this is the other side of the coin. The damage caused by the mandates is being rammed home even harder by the cheap Chinese models with local manufacturers unable to build the cars buyers actually want and are then forced to watch their share of EVs go to China. EU vehicle production is now 3 million units below precoid levels. Plants are going dark. In 2024 alone, 90,000 jobs in the automotive industry evaporated. These are the kinds of jobs that sustain European social stability. This is not a transition. It's more like a windown of Europe's automotive industry. And yes, this is the key point. The extremist climate policies that Europe has enacted will inevitably lead to the collapse of the local manufacturers. It's the unintended consequence of a massive market manipulation on a scale not seen in recent history. And as almost always happens with well-meaning but ill-informed market manipulation, the costs virtually obliterate the benefits. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The approach to regulation, mandate it and they will buy it, has failed. We must align carbon targets with actual market adoption and provide automakers with a realistic and reliable 10-year horizon. This includes giving consumers the option to drive hybrid vehicles for longer. bridging the gap rather than forcing a leap to EVs they aren't ready to take. Completely agree with this. People should be free to choose the car they want to drive. We need to incentivize this transition. European manufacturers have invested hundreds of billions in EVs. Governments must match that commitment with consistent incentives to buy them and a charging infrastructure that extends beyond wealthy urban centers into rural areas. And this is where I don't quite agree. It's not for governments to use taxpayer money to encourage a switch to EVs. EVs should be able to compete on a level playing field, not one tilted in favor of electrification. People are already trending towards hybrids of their own valition because they make sense as an option providing better fuel economy than a regular combustion car, but without having the Achilles heel of a battery which requires inconvenient charging. Ford has called Europe home for more than a hundred years. We want to be part of its green future and we plan to keep investing. But Europe faces a binary choice. It can foster a thriving competitive auto industry that leads the world in green technology or it can cling to unachievable targets and watch as its market is dominated by imports while its own factories rust. Can't disagree with that either, except perhaps the bit about leading the world in green technology. That's just another climate-driven sound bite. The proper path is for Europe to abandon its central planning approach to the economy, which is doomed to fail, and allow automakers to build the cars people want to buy. Simple. If you aren't brainwashed by the net zero nonsense, none of this would be necessary. But what's great about this article is that executives like Jim Farley are no longer afraid of speaking out on the subject rather than simply going along with the impossible European dictats. It's a great sign that the industry is not going to be pushed into irrelevance and is going to fight for its survival, and that's great to see.
He probably knows what he’s talking about having experienced the pain of losing billions on electric models that nobody wants…
Original story: https://m-g.uy/90d416
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