> Do western governments not subsidize their car makers with tariffs, bailouts, tax cuts, etc? Yes, but the Chinese ones are done better. UK government essent

> Do western governments not subsidize their car makers with tariffs, bailouts, tax cuts, etc? Yes, but the Chinese ones are done better. UK government essentially* self-lobotomised with civil service cuts in the post-GFC "austerity" measures, so it doesn't have a good grasp on how to solve problems. Throwing money around without sufficient care to the precise thing being subsidised, that just promotes wasteful spending, it doesn't grow the thing the subsidy was meant to grow. Cobra effect, etc. * this wasn't their intent, of course; the rhetoric was all the usual stuff about "bloated" and "bureaucratic" and so on.