"A worldwide shake-up of Nissan is rippling through the North East (UK), which has functioned as the Japanese car giant’s European base for more than three decades.
Overwhelmed by the flood of cheap Chinese cars, two production lines are to become one with an estimated 900 job losses in Sunderland, from a total cull of 20,000 posts globally. It has also scrapped plans to produce an all-electric version of its wildly popular Qashqai model.
Then there is something that until very recently was considered unthinkable – a true fox-in-the-hen-house moment – as it gears up to make models with Chinese rival Chery, one of the very brands that is snatching market share from established carmakers like Nissan at a ferocious rate.
Still, the upheaval in Tyne and Wear is nothing compared to the meltdown taking place in German car manufacturing, the jewel in the country’s industrial crown and long the carmaking epicentre of Europe.
In the face of China’s onslaught, Volkswagen has announced it is taking the axe to a staggering 100,000 jobs – double a previously outlined target, which was itself higher than previous plans for 35,000 cuts. The impact of such a sharp escalation on the company, the wider Germany economy and indeed the German psyche is hard to overstate.
It’s not just VW that’s in crisis. BMW is planning to spend up to €1bn (£860m) on restructuring, which analysts think could lead to 10,000 job losses and a 15pc reduction in production.
Mercedes-Benz has cancelled summer bonuses and 5,500 staff have already taken voluntary redundancy under a big restructuring programme.
Nor can everything be blamed on cheap, subsidised Chinese imports. By and large, the push by legacy carmakers into electric vehicles has been a complete disaster, turning electrification into a vast money pit.
Losses at Stellantis were almost entirely the result of cancelled EV programs and the cost of severing partnerships in battery development.
US tariffs have also had a major effect on European car exports, though not to the same degree.
Perhaps the question is not what lengths the Continent’s carmakers will go to to recover, but whether they can recover at all..."
Germany may never recover from China’s assault on its carmakers:-
https://archive.ph/zAJte
