Ford Warns Europe’s EV Mandates Put the Auto Industry at Risk
Ford CEO Jim Farley has issued a stark warning about the future of Europe’s automotive industry, arguing that aggressive electric vehicle (EV) mandates and unrealistic climate policies are placing manufacturers, workers, and supply chains under severe strain.
In a recent opinion piece for the Financial Times, Farley outlined how a growing disconnect between regulation and market reality is creating instability across the sector.
At the heart of Ford’s concern is the assumption underpinning many European policies: that governments can force consumers to rapidly adopt electric vehicles simply by setting targets, bans, and mandates. According to Farley, this approach ignores a fundamental problem—consumer demand is not keeping pace with political ambition.
MGUY Australia sums it up in the video below:
EV Targets vs Consumer Reality
European regulations currently require a rapid transition toward electric vehicles, with increasingly strict carbon emissions targets and a proposed ban on internal combustion engines by 2035. However, Farley points out that customers—both private buyers and commercial fleets—are not purchasing EVs in the volumes required to meet these goals.
While EV sales have grown in recent years, much of that growth has been driven by subsidies and incentives rather than genuine, self-sustaining demand. When incentives are reduced or withdrawn, sales often stall. Across the EU, EVs account for around 16% of new vehicle sales, well short of the roughly 25% share required to meet Brussels’ 2025 targets.
This mismatch forces regulators into a cycle of setting ambitious rules, only to soften or delay them when consumers fail to respond. Farley argues that such policy reversals create uncertainty that is deeply damaging for an industry dependent on long-term planning, multibillion-euro investments, and complex supply chains.
Regulatory Instability and Mixed Signals
Farley also criticizes contradictory government policies that confuse consumers rather than encourage adoption. In the UK, for example, new taxes on EV mileage have been proposed at the same time as generous purchase discounts. These “one foot on the gas, one on the brake” approaches undermine confidence and leave buyers unsure whether electric vehicles are truly being supported over the long term.
For automakers, this lack of consistency is particularly problematic. Vehicle development cycles span many years, and frequent regulatory changes disrupt engineering decisions, production planning, and capital investment. Ford argues that Europe urgently needs a stable and realistic regulatory framework with a clear 10-year horizon.
Pressure From Chinese Competition
Compounding these challenges is the rapid rise of low-cost Chinese EV imports. Chinese manufacturers, backed by state subsidies and significant overcapacity, are able to undercut European producers on price. Over the past year, Chinese brands have doubled their market share in Europe, reaching a record 5.5%.
Farley warns that European manufacturers are being squeezed from both sides: forced by regulation to prioritize EVs that consumers are hesitant to buy, while simultaneously losing market share in EVs to cheaper imports. The result is declining production, plant closures, and job losses. EU vehicle production is now around three million units below pre-pandemic levels, and in 2024 alone approximately 90,000 automotive jobs disappeared.
“These are not just factory jobs,” Farley notes, but roles that underpin Europe’s broader social and economic stability.
Hybrids as a Practical Transition
Ford’s position is not opposition to decarbonisation, but to what it sees as an overly rigid, centrally planned approach. Farley argues that the transition to lower-emission transport should align with how consumers actually behave. Hybrid vehicles, in particular, are gaining popularity because they offer improved fuel efficiency without the charging constraints and infrastructure challenges of full battery-electric cars.
Allowing hybrids to play a longer-term role, Farley suggests, would help bridge the gap between internal combustion engines and full electrification, rather than forcing consumers into technologies they are not yet ready to adopt.
A Choice for Europe
Ford has operated in Europe for more than a century and says it wants to remain part of the continent’s future. However, Farley frames Europe’s current direction as a binary choice: either foster a competitive automotive industry capable of innovating and transitioning at a sustainable pace, or cling to unachievable targets and risk deindustrialisation as imports dominate the market.
His warning reflects a growing willingness among automotive executives to publicly challenge EV mandates that they believe threaten the viability of domestic manufacturing. Whether European policymakers adjust course may determine not only the future of electrification, but the survival of Europe’s automotive industry itself.
John O’Sullivan is CEO and co-founder (with Dr Tim Ball) of Principia Scientific International (PSI). He is a seasoned science writer, retired teacher and legal analyst who assisted skeptic climatologist Dr Ball in defeating UN climate expert, Michael ‘hockey stick’ Mann in the multi-million-dollar ‘science trial of the century‘. From 2010 O’Sullivan led the original ‘Slayers’ group of scientists who compiled the book ‘Slaying the Sky Dragon: Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory’ debunking alarmist lies about carbon dioxide plus their follow-up climate book. His most recent publication, ‘Slaying the Virus and Vaccine Dragon’ broadens PSI’s critiques of mainstream medical group think and junk science.