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.
汽车行业提供了欧盟6%的就业岗位，而大众汽车(Volkswagen)是欧盟最大的汽车制造商。因此，当这家德国集团警告其必须关闭国内三家工厂并裁掉数万名工人时，这是欧洲汽车制造商面临压力的一个迹象。欧洲的汽车销量尚未恢复至疫情前水平，而此时汽车工业正在经历一场从内燃机转向电动汽车的划时代转变——而且已让manbetx3.0 竞争对手在该新技术上跃居领先地位。起步较慢的欧洲汽车制造商正面临一场重组，其痛苦程度堪比2008年金融危机后的美国汽车业。但政策也需要发挥更具建设性的作用。