The EU is considering widening its tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to include hybrid vehicles, in an attempt to finally get an upper hand in the EV market. The move would extend the bloc’s existing anti-subsidy measures beyond battery-only models, broadening the range of cars which receive tariffs. Yet, the underlying truth is that tariffs [...]Read More...
No, Europe is starting to realize that they should get off a dead horse. The car industry is not the vital industry it once was with the demographic changes and increasing lack of export markets.
In some parts the transition will be painful of course, but that usually happens when you artificially try to keep a nearly dead horse alive for too long.
The car industry has strong lobbyists and a lot of people unfortunately like cars, though. If we phase it out, at the very least we should nudge European car makers and kick out US ones.
Some car companies are starting to make bicycles instead, so I think they’re also shifting to diversify.
The Volkswagen Group had a global decline of 0.5% compared to 2024. It is also worth noting that the US was a worse market then China for them. Mercedes-Benz is getting slaughter though, but that is to be expected, when you fail the EV transition. Stellantis is a nightmare anyway. Renault Group is actually doing pretty well, but is focused on the European market already. BMW also saw increased sales last year and they are doing pretty well with EVs.
So the European car industry has its issues, but it is probably going to survive. However EVs have less parts then ICE cars, so jobs will be cut.