Biggest problem facing the car industry: Brands and governments are ignoring what buyers want and it means we’re all headed for a crash | Opinion

“Let them eat cake.” The infamous quote attributed to ill-fated French queen Marie Antoinette shortly before she lost her head (literally) seems like a strangely appropriate comparison to today's motoring landscape.

It seems the governments around the world have made the decision that we must drive electric cars and, as such, the car industry is being legislated down that path.

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Several Australian car companies are now staring down the barrel of millions of dollars worth of fines under the NVES policy and it’s highly likely some (or even several) brands will simply abandon Australia altogether as it will no longer be financially sustainable.

In Europe, car brands are trying to figure out how to achieve the European Union’s new demands while still meeting customer expectations.

And therein lies the challenge for both car companies and governments - how do you legislate electric cars if customers don’t want them?

Make no mistake, I am a car enthusiast and I have a deep love of the internal-combustion engine, but I’m also a human being that requires clean air to breathe.

Finding the compromise between market demands and what’s best for society is crucial, so crucial it cannot be done poorly.

The Australian car industry had it too easy for too long, dragging behind the rest of the world, protected by the shield of the local industry.

But as soon as Holden, Ford and Toyota stopped making Australian-specific cars, the government should have accelerated plans for cleaner cars.

Instead it was years before NVES was announced and introduced, effectively condensing what should have been a decade-long transition into a rushed and compromised mess.

The reality in Europe is even worse, with several high-profile car marques committed to the electric-only future to meet the government’s expectations, only to find customers didn’t want that. 

Porsche is perhaps the best example of this, pushing through plans to make its entire range electric, with the exception of the iconic 911 sports car, only to now find itself hastily reorganising itself in the wake of buyer backlash.

That’s the harsh reality the governments in both Australia and Europe have seemingly ignored - you can’t force people into buying a certain type of car.

You can try incentivising a certain type, which is closer to the NVES model, but you cannot make them buy a car they don’t want.

If buyers are faced with the choice between a car that is either too expensive or doesn’t fit their needs and not buying a new car, they’ll often opt for the latter. And that is not what car companies want.

Of course, there is no perfect solution and all sides will need to compromise in some way, shape or form in order to find a way forward.

But right now it seems there is a fundamental disconnect between what the three sides want and ultimately the group most likely to suffer is you - the car-buying public.

Hopefully as NVES and the CO2 emissions ban in Europe approach and it becomes obviously unsustainable commonsense will prevail, but we’re talking about politicians, so trusting in commonsense is… optimistic. 

But if consumers make it clear that they are not ready for an electric transition in the next few years, both government and industry will need to respond accordingly - otherwise, we’re all headed for a crash. 

As Marie Antoinette can attest, ignoring the will of the people and telling them what they should eat (or drive) is not always received well.