By Tim Harris · February 5, 2026

For the last few years, the auto industry has been forced to participate in a fantasy.

Not the fun kind—like “what if Porsche built a 911 that weighed 2,700 pounds again?”
The government kind.

The kind where politicians and regulators tried to mandate consumer behavior through EV quotas, deadlines, and compliance math… while pretending supply chains, consumer preferences, and basic economics were optional.

Now that fantasy is cracking.

And here’s the good news: reality is undefeated.
Here’s the better news: car enthusiasts are about to win.

Because the collapse of EV mandates (or at least the political momentum behind them) is already producing the outcome the market has been demanding:

✅ More ICE options
✅ More hybrids
✅ More performance-focused drivetrains
✅ Less “compliance car” nonsense
✅ Less forced EV strategy—and more “build what people actually want”

And if you want the clearest case study of why this shift matters, look no further than the brand that should have been immune to all of this…

Let’s be clear: Porsche didn’t suddenly forget how to build cars.

They didn’t stop being brilliant.
They didn’t stop engineering masterpieces.
They didn’t stop selling the most iconic sports car lineup in history.

What happened is uglier and more avoidable than that:

Reuters has reported Porsche “woes,” including pressure tied to restructuring and weakening China demand.

Translation?

The brand built by enthusiasts got shoved into chasing “the future,” while its buyers stood there calmly saying:

And the market responded exactly as you’d expect.

EVs can be awesome. Instant torque is fun. They’re great for certain buyers and certain use cases.

But here’s the uncomfortable truth Stuttgart and Brussels learned the hard way:

EVs are not automatically what people want—especially not at Porsche prices.

And when governments try to force one outcome onto a free market, you don’t get utopia.

You get distortions.

You get overpriced products.
You get bad planning.
You get layoffs and margin collapse.
You get brands making decisions for regulators instead of customers.

That’s how you end up with Porsche having to walk back EV timelines and re-emphasize ICE/hybrids.

Let’s talk about something car enthusiasts and working people understood instantly—while politicians pretended not to.

To many Americans, the entire “Green New Deal” mentality wasn’t simply about cleaner energy.

It was seen as something else:

Not persuade people.

Not innovate the market.

But control behavior by restricting choices.

And in the car world it felt like this:

That’s why even people who don’t care about cars started to sour on the ideology. Because it wasn’t just about emissions.

It was about control.

And the public doesn’t like being controlled.

They like being offered great products and choosing what fits their lives.

There’s another reason enthusiasts rolled their eyes at the whole thing:

The “Green New Deal” narrative became a money funnel.

To a lot of people, it looked like:

…that created a whole class of winners who weren’t the public.

It didn’t feel like “save the planet.”

It felt like:

Meanwhile, the consumer was left holding the bag:

And when the average person realized this wasn’t making life better — the enthusiasm collapsed.

Even if you never planned to buy an EV, the mandates still hit you.

Because the mandate mindset did this:

And the result is exactly what we feared:

less variety, less fun, less soul—with a lot more “strategic compliance.”

Whether you love politics or hate politics, the broader regulatory posture has clearly shifted toward undoing or weakening EV mandate pressure.

Policy battles are real and active, and even EV infrastructure programs have become a legal/political fight.

And once mandates weaken, companies have permission to do something radical again:

Serve customers.

Porsche has acknowledged changing demand realities and moved to place greater emphasis on combustion engines and plug-in hybrids.

Which is corporate-speak for:

And honestly?

That’s the most Porsche thing Porsche could do.

Hybrids are the sweet spot because they improve what drivers care about:

Enthusiasts don’t want purity tests.

They want better cars.

Yes.

Because the car business is not supposed to be a political art project.

It’s supposed to be:

Build great machines that people want.
Then let the market reward whoever does it best.

Mandates invert that.

Mandates pick winners and losers before the race starts.
Mandates try to reshape reality by decree.

And the outcome is always the same:

The consumer eventually revolts—quietly, with their wallet.

Not on Twitter.
Not on cable news.

At the dealership.

Porsche didn’t lose money because it forgot how to innovate.

Porsche lost money because it got dragged into a regulatory-driven EV sprint that didn’t match consumer demand.

Now that mandates are fading and the market is reasserting itself, the road ahead looks better:

✅ Porsche gets to build what Porsche fans actually want
✅ the industry gets to normalize hybrids + ICE again
✅ enthusiasts get a second wind

And the market gets to do what it always does:

punish ideology
reward excellence

And bring the flat-sixes, V8s, and hybrid-assisted weapons back where they belong.

— Tim Harris

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