Volkswagen and Stellantis unveil plan to save European auto industry

Antonio Filosa and Oliver Blume, two executive directors of Stellantis and Volkswagen Group, revealed their idea in an open letter published in Sole 24 Ore.

Filosa and Blume start by thinking about batteries, to expand the concept to the entire market:

“Our companies have always built cars by Europeans for Europeans. Nine out of ten vehicles we sell in the EU are manufactured here. However, our European business faces competition from importers that operate under less stringent regulatory and social conditions than in the EU.”

Batteries are the most obvious example of Europe's strategic dilemma. We are investing billions in their production. As Europeans, we must own and produce this key technology ourselves along the entire chain.

At the same time, our European customers rightly expect us to offer the most affordable electric vehicles possible, which is a fundamental condition for the success of electric mobility. But the lower the price of a car, the greater the pressure to import the cheapest possible batteries.

Cars made in Europe, marked with a special label, can benefit from national incentives and preferential conditions in public tenders. Not a Trump-style protectionism driven by tariffs, but a path that values ​​the European car industry, protecting its survival and jobs. Its importance for Europe is strategic, as it accounts for 8 percent of the Union's GDP.