The automotive industry is a major pillar of the modern global economy and one of Europe’s key industries. There can hardly be any doubt about the important role of this sector as an engine for employment, growth and innovation in Europe, and there are crucial challenges and opportunities...

The chapter presents a broad picture of the European automotive industry and seeks to determine how competitive it is internationally and which are the sources of its competitiveness. Competitiveness is defined as the ability of an industrial sector to defend and/or gain market share in open,...

European countries are currently faced with a variety of challenges, ranging from the new global distribution of economic activity, the diffusion of new, radical technologies to the aging of its population, youth unemployment and the aftermath of the economic and financial crisis. These...