The auto industry supports 6 per cent of the EU’s jobs, and Volkswagen is its biggest carmaker. So when the German group warns it must close three plants at home and axe thousands of workers, that is a sign of the stress Europe’s carmakers are under. European sales have yet to regain pre-pandemic levels, just when the industry is engaged in an epochal shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles — and has allowed Chinese rivals to leapfrog ahead in the new technology. Slow off the starting line, Europe’s carmakers face a restructuring as wrenching as the US auto industry after the 2008 financial crisis. But policy needs to play a more constructive role, too.
汽車行業提供了歐盟6%的就業崗位，而福斯汽車(Volkswagen)是歐盟最大的汽車製造商。因此，當這家德國集團警告其必須關閉國內三家工廠並裁掉數萬名工人時，這是歐洲汽車製造商面臨壓力的一個跡象。歐洲的汽車銷量尚未恢復至疫情前水準，而此時汽車工業正在經歷一場從內燃機轉向電動汽車的劃時代轉變——而且已讓中國競爭對手在該新技術上躍居領先地位。起步較慢的歐洲汽車製造商正面臨一場重組，其痛苦程度堪比2008年金融危機後的美國汽車業。但政策也需要發揮更具建設性的作用。