CLEPA tells EU auto industry to smarten up

By Bradford Wernle, Automotive News Europe

The European auto industry must get smarter if it's going to stay competitive globally.

That's the conclusion of a policy paper authored by CLEPA, the European auto suppliers association and presented in Brussels, September 22 at the Hotel Renaissance.

CLEPA Executive Director Lars Holmqvist said the auto industry is Europe's largest employer and critical to the continued economic health of European Union member states. The industry, including manufacturers, suppliers and related businesses, employs about 10 million. Suppliers alone employ 8 million, he said.

"For Europe to be competitive, we need to be smarter since our cost base is higher," he said. "We need not only better basic education, but better training on the job and continuous learning. We need to be very good at research and development. Today we're competing with Korea, China, Japan and Malaysia on both components and cars."

Holmqvist said he attended a conference in India earlier this month and was impressed by the investment being made there in education and training there.

"The level of training is growing dramatically in India, while it's going down in Europe and that's dangerous," he said.

The auto industry -- "the engine of Europe" in Holmqvist's words -- is losing its competitiveness to challengers from low-cost countries.

He said European companies are going to India because they can find skills they need. He cited German supplier Robert Bosch, which has set up a software center in the Indian city of Bangalore that employs 300 engineers.

From Automotive News Europe (A Crain publication)