Ford CEO Jim Farley Says Europe is Selling its Future To China
Jim Farley has warned Europe it’s selling its future to Chinese car makers. And well, he’s not wrong. Hello, my friends. Welcome to the channel. I’m Sam Evans. Great to have you with us. Ford has asked the EU and the UK to cancel their ban on EVs in 2035. Jim Farley says Ford was forced to sell EVs in the United States and it’s going to be forced to sell EVs in Europe. It’s not fair and this should be changed. And well, Ford and Jim Farley have joined Toyota and BMW in lobbying heavily against EVs. Well, basically against the cancellation of internal combustion sales in 2035. Not long after car makers caught a break from US President Donald Trump, or at least they think they did, who relaxed stringent fuel economy standards, Ford chief executive Jim Farley, after thanking Donald Trump profusely for saving Ford from having to buy or having to sell electric cars. And also Jim Farley said this. He said people in the US were forced to buy EVs that they didn’t want to buy. That’s what he says. Well, right after that, he wrote an op-ed urging the European Union to adopt more pragmatic EV targets. He believes that in 10 years from now, banning banning the sales of internal combustion cars is crazy. He says that without petrol powered or gasoline powered cars, the region will be swallowed up by fastm moving Chinese entrance. Now, Jim’s probably forgotten the fact that there’s actually EV tariffs um on Chinese automakers of for an average of 40%. Including the 10% tariff that they’ve got to pay anyway. The average tariff for Chinese automakers is 40%. In my opinion, if Chinese automakers can dominate the European car market with a tariff of 40%. Then it doesn’t matter what Europe does, their industry is doomed regardless of what they do. because a 40% head start should allow you to easily win, especially when you consider they’re paying a 40% tariff and they’re having to ship the cars all the way over from China. Now, you might say to yourself, “Well, but they’re going to start building their cars in in Europe.” That’s true, but most of it’s just assembly factories. So, they still got to ship all those parts from China to Europe and then pay Europeans to assemble their cars in Europe in order to avoid these tariffs. If you can’t beat that and you’re making cars already on the continent, then there’s nothing that you can’t be helped. That’s what I think. In a Financial Times oped, Farley accuses European policy makers of crafting unrealistic regulations only to revise them late in the year, creating what he calls a recipe for turmoil. Ford CEO says this approach costs automakers billions in investment by interrupting interrupting the complex cycle of product design, engineering, and supply chains. While speaking in the White House last week, Farley said that the Biden era policies were unreasonable and forced for to sell EVs to customers who didn’t want to buy them and not in line with consumer demand. He’s drawn a direct comparison to the situation in Europe, pointing out that EV market share across Europe has stalled at around 16%. Well short of Brussels 25% goal for 2025. Now, Jim is actually completely wrong about that, about EV sales stalling in Europe. EV sales have actually gone up in not by more than 30% in Europe this year and that’s without subsidies. Most of Europe is not subsidizing EVs. So Jim is to be honest I understand where he’s coming from but he’s flat out lying in this op-ed that he’s written. The approach to regulation mandated and they will buy it has failed. He says 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 that they aren’t ready to take. Now, I think he’s jumping the gun because technology in 10 years time from now is going to be a lot better than where it is today. Think about it this way, right? How good were electric cars in 2015? Let’s go back all the way to 2015. The only electric car that pretty much anyone in the West could afford was a Nissan Leaf. And to be honest, the Nissan Leaf wasn’t a particularly great car, was it? Think about what the options are on the market 10 years later. How much better the market has become. The same thing’s happening. And it’s only going to it’s probably the difference between 2025 and 2035 will be even greater than the than the difference between 2015 and 2025 because of the amount of money being invested into this technology today, which is far greater than what was what it was over the past 10 years. Farley says though that Europe’s automakers have poured hundreds of billions into electrification. And that’s my point. In return, he believes governments need to step up with serious purchase incentives and support for charging infrastructure that goes well beyond affluent urban neighborhoods. In other words, he’s just saying EVs are for the rich. Seems like it’s um a little bit scareering here from Jim. Ford’s boss isn’t just concerned with government policy. He’s also keeping a close eye on Chinese automakers and supporting them at the same time. He’s promoting the hell out of Xiaomi. I don’t know why. Jim Farley says Xiaomi is the Apple of China. He owns a Xiaomi car in the United States which he had to import privately. He has promoted that brand more than any other individual worldwide except its own CEO. And even then, Jim’s probably done more for Xiaomi than any other individual person, which is kind of bizarre. He’s promoting the Chinese automotive industry and yet he’s also saying we should run away from it. With massive overcapacity and a strong foothold in battery tech, China is now in a position to flood the European market. He says over the past year alone, Chinese EV brands have doubled their market share in the region. EU vehicle production is now 3 million units below precoid levels. He said plants are going dark. In 2024 alone, 90,000 jobs in the automotive industry evaporated. Um, yeah, there was even more than that this year. These are the kinds of jobs that sustain European social stability. This isn’t a hypothetical threat. Farley argues that a combination of subsidized Chinese EVs and rigid carbon mandates could upend the local industry faster than policy makers anticipate. To be clear, the industry is not asking for a bailout. We are not asking for protectionism to shield inefficiency. At Ford, we will continue to do the hard work of restructuring. We have closed legacy facilities, reduced our workforce, and slim down costs to become more agile. But if Europe wants to vvoid becoming a museum of 20th century manufacturing, we need an urgent reset and a long-term plan. This is not a transition, he says. It’s more like a windown of Europe’s automotive industry. Now, I should point out that Ford is sort of guilty of themselves. Let’s be honest. I mean, Ford’s new EVs will be built by Renault, their new small EVs in Europe, and Ford’s bigger EVs are built by the Volkswagen Group in Europe. So, Ford is sort of outsourcing everything and and to be honest, they’re falling behind. Without immediate course correction, Farley argues Europe’s industrial backbone could slip into long-term decline. He’s not wrong. They are. I mean, the Volkswagen group have said it cost them twice as much to manufacture a vehicle in Europe than what it cost them to make one in China. I don’t think European policy makers can change that. That’s the industry. But I do think one thing can change it. And I’ve had this discussion with a few people. I think if Europe can essentially eliminate the majority of humans working on the production lines in Europe, they can compete with China. Uh the biggest problem to be honest in in Europe is really humans. We’re too expensive. Wages are too high. Automotive industry wages are way too high in Europe and the efficiency is too low. Uh the CEO of Mercedes-Benz says complained numerous times about staff not turning up to work. Tesla has the same problem. People just aren’t really willing to work as hard as they used to be and wages are higher and you can’t compete with China based on that. So structurally things have to change and the only way I think Europe can compete is if they have essentially dark factories where you know you have those factories where the lights are all off because the robots are making everything. Well, if that were the case in Europe, I absolutely think they can compete. If you got factories running on solar and batteries, just renewable energy. Yeah. And let’s say those factories are in places that are sunny, such as Spain, where there’s actually a lot of auto automotive industry factories. Some have shut down, but some are still in operation. and you’ve got robots doing everything, then this would one way Europe could keep its automotive industry. I personally don’t think European automotive industry, which employs millions of people, I don’t think it can still exist under its current situation. There’s that you can’t just change it. You can’t just change the entire structure by simply writing an op-ed, writing pieces, opinion pieces about things. Structural change is the only way. And Ford’s right about the number of jobs being lost. I mean this year uh huge numbers of people have been lost directly and indirectly tens of thousands have been lost. I’ve talked about this on the channel uh from my numbers at least 50,000 jobs were lost in Germany alone in the automotive industry this year 90,000 Ford says last year for Europe it’s hundreds of thousands of jobs because indirectly right for every one direct job in the automotive industry 10 jobs are supported by that one job. So, you lose one job in a direct German car factory, 10 go. Those are big numbers. What do you guys think about this? How do you see this playing out? I don’t I don’t really I think, you know, Europe is already opening up a Trojan horse. The entire planet is and they’re selling rebadged cars now, rebadged Chinese cars in many countries around the world and calling them Niss and calling them Toyotas, calling them all kinds of things. But ultimately consumers eventually will recognize what those cars are and then to say, “Well, why am I buying this car for a premium price? I can buy the Chinese version cheaper.” That’s exactly what’s happening in places like Mexico, says Michael Dunn, a former General Motors executive. This could be what happens all across the planet. Let me know what you think. Thanks for watching.
Ford CEO Jim Farley Says Europe is Selling its Future To China
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Ford CEO Jim Farley warns that Europe is “selling its future to China,” raising alarms about the rapid rise of Chinese EV dominance, shrinking European manufacturing, and the growing dependence on Chinese batteries and supply chains. In this video, we break down Farley’s explosive comments, the competitive threat from BYD, Geely, and SAIC, and what this means for Europe’s automotive industry, jobs, and the future of electric vehicles in the region.
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Jim Farley Warns Europe It’s Selling Its Future To Chinese Carmakers
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