Volkswagen is closing three plants in Germany, and Audi is halting production in Belgium, sparking fears of a crisis in Europe’s car industry. However, some see it as part of a necessary transition.
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00:00Volkswagen has just announced the closure of three plants in Germany,
00:06while Audi will stop production at a factory in Belgium.
00:11The European automotive sector seems to be in crisis.
00:15But the German industry sees itself in a transition period with the switch to electric cars.
00:21This comes, however, at a high cost, as EV car production requires fewer employees overall than in the past.
00:29According to a new study, the transformation of the German automotive industry could lead to 186,000 job losses over the next 10 years,
00:39and a quarter of those have already been lost.
00:42The German Association of the Automotive Industry thinks that other jobs will be created,
00:47but this requires to work on competitiveness.
00:51In the future, the attractiveness of the location site decides where investments are made and where future jobs will be established.
01:02Yes, there will be jobs that won't be needed that much anymore,
01:05but with the digital era and everything concerning software, but also the electric mobility itself,
01:12of course, there will be a lot of new jobs created.
01:15So we need to make sure that Europe, that Germany, has the attractiveness, the competitiveness that the investments are made here.
01:24According to German car makers, the key to this is cheaper energy,
01:29which is four times more expensive in Europe than in China and the United States.
01:34On the other hand, they disagree with the European tariffs on electric cars made in China that have just entered into force.
01:41But according to the NGO Clean Transport, the new tariffs will give the sector breathing space during the switch.
01:49The tariffs will not change the entire dynamics completely.
01:53Maybe instead of importing those electric vehicles from China,
01:57we will see a lot more factories here in Europe where Chinese manufacturers are producing those vehicles locally,
02:04which can also be good news for Europe.
02:06In terms of pricing, there might be indeed some short-term effects,
02:11where maybe there's less vehicles available, very short-term, for example, or the prices are a bit higher.
02:16But generally, it's very hard to say, because it really depends on the pricing strategies of Chinese car makers,
02:22and a lot of them have very comfortable profit margins.
02:25According to the expert, policymakers and the European Commission have an important role to play
02:30in simplifying the business environment for green industry.
02:34But it is also important to convince people to switch to green vehicles as quickly as possible.
02:40Sales of new cars have fallen sharply, 18.3% fewer than in the same period last year.
02:47As for electric cars, sales are stagnant in Europe, but growing globally.