Net zero has nothing to do with it. Consumers vote with their wallets and are responsible for the commercial success of Chinese products.

The Chinese are entirely capable of producing cars (and all other machinery) to competitive standards - civil and military aircraft, space stations, industrial machinery etc.

They succeed because their costs (labour, energy) are low, and clear strategic goals are set at top political levels which means that they act fast and coherently.

Whether high speed rail, EV battery plants, power stations etc etc - just compare to typical UK performance where a major investment programme (eg: HS2) has taken decades of wrangling and is still not finished, Sizewell C barely started after 15 years etc.

Most UK GDP comes from services (hairdressers, curry houses, lawyers, financial services, media, healthcare, education etc etc) so that manufacturing provides only a small part of national wealth and jobs - less than 10%.

The UK has seen manufacturing decimated over the last 40 years - quite simply too slow and too expensive. Whether we should sacrifice H&S and employment rights legislation, planning consultation and democracy in pursuit of lower costs is another matter.

The problem is that if manufacturers and lease / PCP financing companies want to stay in business and make a profit (huge depreciation of EVs), they cannot sustain the level of new sales because the second hand market just isn't there - its flooded with EVs few people want, even with that big depreciation.

The s/h market will find a level at which it functions effectively - it's what markets do. IMHO as EVs and charging facilities become commonplace, fears of range anxiety, battery longevity etc etc will diminish.

At some point (and soon), finance companies will start to raise PCP / lease monthly rates to realistic levels to make a profit on disposal of 3yo EVs, and maybe even higher to recoup losses from the last couple of years, plus the next two or so as cars they sold under agreements from 2023 to now come off those deals.

Losses made on the disposal of EVs are history - the market will determine the future economic price for PCP and lease. Companies cannot unilaterally recover earlier losses by increasing prices - they would simply become uncompetitive.

Manufacturers too will not be able to sustain their price cuts, because they are either subsidising them from their own profits and/or from jacking up the price of ICE vehicles. Lower overall sales, losses per vehicle (or minuscule profits) and rising costs are not sustainable over the medium to long term to enable long term investment decisions and pay out decent dividends.

Costs of ICE production will broadly increase with inflation. The costs of EVs - particularly batteries - is declining. Current new price of comparable EV and ICE is similar.

In 2-3 years time prices of ICE may be cut as manufacturers want to generate sales of vehicles which will soon be unsaleable using tooling and designs soon to become obsolete.

Eventually, governments will have to abandon the artificial deadlines and sales targets and just let the whole thing develop naturally as the market dictates. Either that or watch the entire industry and possibly disastrous effects on entire economies occur within a few years at best. The 'Net Zero' stuff (similar) is also lined in to this, making the situation much worse, as recent events in Spain and other parts of continental Europe showed.

Transition to EV and abandonment of ICE is a completely sound strategy. Similarly green energy generation vs fossil fuels. It is reasonable to question the timescales and incentives required to make this happen.

Personally I think they should stick with existing deadlines and targets - a new technology with fundamental major benefits to UK PLC (environmental and energy security) needs support to become established.

There may not be a buyers' market for second hand EVs soon if it naturally corrects via one means or another.

A personal aside - last year I bought an ICE SUV. I rejected EV as I make several trips a year where recharging enroute would be required, including southern Spain. Range anxiety, depreciation, dealer networks, battery life were all concerns - individually not enough to sway the conclusion but taken together lead me to ICE.

Were I making the decision today I would probably go EV - in a years time almost certainly.

Eventually, governments will have to abandon the artificial deadlines and sales targets and just let the whole thing develop naturally as the market dictates. Either that or watch the entire industry and possibly disastrous effects on entire economies occur within a few years at best. The 'Net Zero' stuff (similar) is also lined in to this, making the situation much worse, as recent events in Spain and other parts of continental Europe showed.

I think it is too late for that now - manufacturers are already moving away from building ICE in Europe and they will need the EV sales to keep increasing due to the investments that have already been made and also what they have coming out over the next few years for new models - the manufacturers just won't have alternative ICE models available.

It is all about which car fits your needs the best.

If you regularly do long motorway journeys and 350 mile days and 95% of your driving is of that type and 5% mixed local then an EV will arguably only be the optimum choice 5% of the time. It'll still work but you won't get the same cost advantages (tax aside) it will be less convenient in many cases.

However, if 95% of your motoring is within 100 miles or so of home and you only do an occasional long journey then, yes, for those occasions an EV might be slightly slower (possibly) and won't have the cost advantages but for the other 95% you will be driving something optimised for your motoring.

I bet far more typical UK drivers fit in the latter category than the former.

I mean, really, if you only do a long journey once a month then 12 stops over a year to charge aren't really a deal breaker for all the other times you'll be driving something better.