Keir Starmer took over as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in July of this past year, and by this fall, he and his party were already cause for derisive hoots or just disgusted spitting noises made when their names were mentioned, so quickly and badly had the entire Labour crew bollixed their ascension to governance.

I'm not sure what British voters thought they were getting when the pasty-faced PM and his acolytes had been clear about their goals from the beginning, but that's another post entirely.

What's been happening could have been drawn out on a whiteboard by any rational soul who'd been watching Europe's trajectory over the past few years. That of the British Isles has only been compounded by their isolation and, if the horror stories we routinely hear from Ebola are the norm of life there, a national pig-headed insistence on doing everything the absolute most intrusive, difficult, and expensive way possible.

In November, as Starmer's approval ratings were descending in a blazing trail of doom like SkyLab falling out of orbit, I wrote a post on auto-maker Stellantis throwing up their hands after months of fruitless negotiations over rethinking the UK's mandated EV sales. Those government-determined EV sales quotas come side-by-side with hefty fines per unsold vehicle for auto manufacturers, which is all well and good if people are buying those vehicles.

The problem for Stellantis and other car makers in the UK is that consumers are not purchasing EVs at the rate the quotas assumed, and worse - those vehicles that are purchased are often sold at steep discounts with massive losses just to move them off the lot. Obviously, it is a situation that cannot continue.

Stellantis tried explaining a 'business' concept to Labour climate cultists.

...For one thing, Labour's climate-related NetZero aspirations and associated arbitrary goals are running against an immutable force known as 'reality.' 

For example, their mandated EV sales targets for auto manufacturers to meet to avoid hefty penalties for imperiling the earth do not match up with consumer demand. 

This, in turn, is creating quite a conundrum for manufacturers who need something known as a 'profit' in order to stay in business. Sales = 'profit' thing, and sales are sadly lagging behind the ambitious fever dreams officially set by the British government. What EVs they can move off lots they have to practically give away, thanks to incentives.

Something has to give, and automaker Stellantis has been in talks with Labour for months now, trying to work a compromise.

On Oct. 14, [CEO Carlos]Tavares told Bloomberg Television that the government was setting a threshold for battery-electric vehicle sales that is roughly double the “natural” level of demand.

If governments in Europe want Stellantis to sell a mix of EVs that is above natural demand levels, “they need to help to stimulate the demand,” Tavares said, noting that the company has discussed this with the U.K. for several months.

“We are now reaching a point where we have to make a decision, and that will happen in the next few weeks,” he said.

The U.K. introduced a mandate starting this year requiring that 22 percent of each automaker’s new-car sales be zero-emissions, with that threshold rising to 80 percent in 2030.

For vans, 70 percent of new sales have to be electric by the end of the decade.

Automakers face fines of up to 15,000 pounds ($19,550) per vehicle for missing targets, but they can avoid penalties by using a credit-trading program and catch up in later years.

After the company announced the closure of two plants, shuttering one almost immediately, Labour blinked. "We'll think about it."

Meanwhile, a chorus of auto industry voices rose, with manufacturers like Nissan and industry trade groups letting Labour know how the math worked.

...The industry’s representative body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) says weak demand for BEVs and the requirement to fulfill sales quotas would cost carmakers £6 billion ($7.53 billion) in 2024 alone, “with the potential for devastating impacts on business viability and jobs”.

As Stellantis was wading into the fray, Ford Motor Co was quietly drowning in their own European vehicle misery, watching already lackluster sales tank further while getting their butts kicked by cheaper Chinese EV imports. The company had announced 4000 layoffs in November, being coy in regards to how many would affect the UK. Out of the 6500 Ford employed in the UK, they did promise not to touch workers at the Dagenwood and Halewood plants

Ford has said it will cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, becoming the latest carmaker to try to reduce costs amid slowing growth in electric car sales and competition from China.

The American carmaker said on Wednesday it would axe 800 jobs in the UK and 2,900 in Germany. The company’s UK factories in Dagenham and Halewood will not be affected.

The cuts represent about 14% of Ford’s 28,000 workforce in Europe and will be completed by the end of 2027.

Ford is the latest in a series of global carmakers to aim for cost savings as the industry struggles with waning demand while also trying to invest in the transition to electric cars.

In a statement after a multi-company meeting with a Labour official about the issue, Ford also took shots at the UK mandates and fines.

...Carmakers at the meeting argued for greater flexibilities on the UK’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which forces brands to sell an increasing proportion of electric cars each year. Some carmakers want the government to allow them to sell more hybrids in the next couple of years, when electric car sales targets are likely to be hardest to meet.

...Peter Godsell, a vice-president of Ford in Europe, also called for a relaxation of rules.

“The UK ZEV mandate is challenging,” Godsell said. “The market conditions are making it unworkable at the moment. It’s a really unstable environment.”

The government might have paid a little attention because, just a few weeks later, they 'fast-tracked' the mandate review even though it was too late for some folks to help. Stellantis closed factories, and Ford started screaming for government subsidies to keep theirs open.

Ford's UK boss has called on the government to provide consumer incentives of up to £5,000 per car to boost demand for electric vehicles and help the industry hit challenging climate targets.

Lisa Brankin, chair of Ford UK & Ireland, told Sky News that direct support for consumers to purchase zero-emission vehicles is crucial if the industry is to remain viable and hit challenging net zero milestones.

Last week, amid increased industry pressure, the government launched a "fast-track" review of its Zero Emission Mandate (ZEV), which sets targets for the proportion of new vehicles that must be electric - set at 22% this year for cars and 10% for vans.

I would bet Ford didn't close to the Halewood facility for two reasons: 

1) it only just reopened this month as an uber-expensive, brand-spanking new EV drive plant 

2) Ford wants to be able to wave it in Labour's face as the government put up 10% of the cost and would look extremely foolish if they bet on a losing prospect...not that that's ever stopped money going to grifters here.

Ford's Halewood factory will start production of electric power units for two of its best-selling battery vehicles, injecting major investment into the local economy and offering job security to hundreds of employees, it has confirmed.

The new Ford eDrive units will power 70 per cent of its electric vehicles sold in Europe, including the new Puma Gen-E electric car unveiled today.

...Ford's £380million investment – including £30.9million of governmental support via the Automotive Transformation Fund – has seen Halewood transformed from a traditional transmissions facility into a state-of-the-art electric vehicle component manufacturing plant.

The Merseyside town will also benefit from a big investment from JLR to turn its plant in Halewood into an EV-only making facility.  

Some commenters were skeptical of success at the time...

Soon to be closed because people don't want electric vehicles 😂😂😂😂

— AFCB Oldgit 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇦 (@AFCBOldgit) December 5, 2024

...as well they might have been.

Ford's EV numbers are dismal, and it's time for freak-out mode.

One of the largest car brands in the world could face fines of more than £100million for failing to meet Government targets on electric vehicle sales in the UK.

Ford has emerged as the worst-performing major manufacturer in the electric car market, with just 6.8 per cent of its sales being electric vehicles in the first 11 months of 2024.

This falls significantly short of requirements under the Government's Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which demands manufacturers achieve 22 per cent electric vehicle sales in 2024.

They should have saved the money they spent on the factory re-do.

This is the *actual* tipping point. Nobody wants the things that the government has mandated manufacturers must sell or be fined. The fines will overwhelm the manufacturers.

— Ben Pile (@clim8resistance) December 31, 2024

With the exception of the sales mandates and fines, these Ford tribulations mirror exactly what's been happening here. 

The salvation for us is that there's a Trump administration coming in to shut all this lunacy down at long last and cut off the money.

Ford's problems are industry problems in a country that's flat-broke, totally demoralized, and ruled by a cultist government.

Um...Happy New Year, and good luck?