European automotive supplier trade association CLEPA says that Europe’s automotive supplier sector is rapidly losing jobs and faces a ‘structural reset’ that policy support has yet to address.
CLEPA says job losses have surpassed 100,000 in only two years, dramatically outpacing the rate of new job creation. In 2025, the European automotive supply industry announced 50,000 job losses. Added to the 54,000 already recorded in 2024, this brings the total job cuts over the past two years to 104,000, CLEPA says.
CLEPA also estimates that only 7,000 new positions were announced in 2025, clearly showing that the current job creation has fallen dramatically short of compensating for the workforce reductions announced.
CELPA says the European Commission’s recent Automotive Package takes a first step in the right direction, including more flexible technology pathways and local content provisions. But it adds that further development is needed to create real flexibility and strengthen competitiveness and European production, without adding complexity and costs.
The trade body also maintains that the EU must lower energy prices and ease administrative burdens, while targeted measures are also needed to preserve critical production capacities in the region.
Benjamin Krieger, Secretary General of CLEPA, said: “We need to stop the bleeding: Over 100,000 people in the automotive supply chain have lost or are about to lose their jobs – that’s 140 families affected every single day. The Automotive Package now needs to deliver: safeguarding livelihoods and keeping engineering talent in Europe by restoring fair competition, reducing operational costs, and giving companies real regulatory flexibility.”
Potential Greenland tariffs come on top of other pressures
Europe’s automotive industry is also reeling under the potential impact of new tariffs on shipments to the US.
US President Trump’s threatened 10% additional import tariff for European companies over Greenland would be piled on top of existing tariffs on automotive products.
The new tariff, if imposed, would apply from 1 February at 10%, rising to 25% in June if a deal on Greenland being ‘owned’ by the US – it is currently a semi-autonomous territory belonging to Denmark – is not concluded by then. A number of countries, including the UK and Germany, have been singled out by Trump for the new tariffs. EU car shipments to the US are already subject to a 15% import tariff, while an interim deal with the UK has set them at 10%.
Companies with big annual car sales to the US, such as Mercedes, BMW, Volvo Cars and Jaguar Land Rover, stand to have their margins on US business hit further.
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