Titan France SAS doesn't make tyres, but wheels for tractors and farm machines, and also imports spare parts. France is a major agricultural country with a subsidy-protected farm sector, which helps keep industrial supply of parts for the sector out of global competition.

Tyre manufacture, otoh, is extremely open to cut-throat competition. Taylor's letter said he would "buy an Indian company and pay the workers less than an euro an hour". In those conditions, no European tyre manufacturer can survive, except through quality and innovation. Which don't appear to be on Taylor's schedule. He's looking to pick up plant with first-world infrastructure behind it, and produce second-rate tyres with low labour costs. Free lunch? Or just standard locust meal?

But it remains perfectly true that Taylor is not just a jerk but a hypocrite, since he runs companies in Europe.