Western European carmakers have relocated a third of their production to Eastern Europe, Morocco and Turkey
- The European automobile industry, located mainly in the West of the continent in the 20th century France, Germany, England, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands), decided to gradually relocate part of its production to countries with lower labour costs, firstly to make more profits and secondly to invest in these new markets where the motorization rate was very low. We thus saw part of this automobile production being relocated to Spain and Portugal in the second half of the 20th century, then after the fall of the USSR in 1991, to the countries of Eastern Europe, former satellites of the USSR, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. These relocations were especially favoured after the entry of these countries into the European Union in the early 2000s.
- This production located in Eastern Europe has become increasingly important, increasing from 2 million vehicles (PC+LUV) in 2005 to 4 million in 2019 and 3.5 million in 2024. At the same time, production in Western Europe decreased from 16 million vehicles (PC+LUV) in 2005 to 13.5 million in 2019 and 10.5 million in 2024.
- Turkey and Morocco have emerged as new locations for the European automotive industry. Production in these two countries has grown from 800,000 units in 2005 to 1.75 million units by 2024.
- In total, Western Europe has relocated a third of its production to Eastern European countries, Turkey, and Morocco. Indeed, by 2024, 5.25 million vehicles will be produced in these offshoring countries, compared to the 10.5 million vehicles produced in Western Europe.