CARS21: Commission to boost competitiveness of car industry

Publication date: 13 January 2005

In a joint press conference Günter Verheugen, Vice-President of the Commission, and Bernd Pischetsrieder, President of ACEA (European Automobile Manufacturers Association) and CEO of Volkswagen, launched a new initiative to boost the competitiveness of the European car industry. A high level group called “CARS 21” will be set up. The group’s objective is to generate recommendations to improve the worldwide competitiveness of the European automotive industry. Commissioner Verheugen also announced his intention to make life easier for the industry by the simplification of the car type approval in the EU through the increasing application of United Nations rules.

Under the chairmanship of Vice-President Verheugen a high level group is being set up for a “Competitive Automotive Regulatory System for the 21st Century – CARS 21”.

The group will consist of prominent representatives of the EU car sector, Member States, the European Parliament, Trade Unions, NGO’s, users and the Commission. It will in particular be invited to:
- develop an integrated strategy for a sustainable development of the industry;
- define the best possible regulatory approaches; and
- set out the necessary conditions to ensure that innovation efforts give the European industry a first mover advantage.

The first meeting of the group is scheduled for March 2005. Two further meetings are envisaged in 2005, with a view for the group to deliver its recommendations before the end of 2005. The Commission will then follow this up with proposals for concrete actions for a competitive automotive industry at the beginning of 2006.

The EU automotive industry is facing a number of challenges:
- The EU automotive industry lags behind the US and Japan in terms of productivity. Labour productivity in the EU-15 is 25% lower than in the US and 30% lower than in Japan.
- Labour costs per hour worked in the EU-15 are comparable to those in the US, but more than 10% above those in Japan and almost three times as high as in Korea.
- There are major technological challenges ahead, most prominently the fuel cell. Competition and innovation will be key determinants for the viability and strength of Europe’s automobile industry.

The European Competitiveness Report 2004, published in November 2004, provides an in-depth analysis of the automotive sector with regard to its competitiveness, challenges and future strategies. It can be found under:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/competitiveness/index.htm#ecr2004

For more information:
- List of CARS21 members
- Memo/05/7: Key Indicators on the Competitiveness of the EU's automotive Industry
cars21_members.pdf (78 KB)

memo057_indicators.pdf (177 KB)