Brussels - Ah, the style of an Italian Ferrari, the solidity of a German Mercedes, the flair of a French Renault!The car industry is not only Europe's pride and joy, it provides income for some 12 million families and last year generated a combined turnover of 551 billion euros (700 billion dollars), or about 5 per cent of the continent's gross domestic product (GDP).
One in every three cars sold around the world is European.
But now, caught between the global credit crunch, a recession and the need to make greener vehicles, Europe's automobile industry says it is facing its most difficult moment since the oil crisis of the early 1970s.
Sales have shifted into reverse since the spring, and the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) is predicting layoffs of up to 5 per cent of the industry's continental workforce.
Manufacturers are appealing for help. All indications are that they won't get all they want.
One demand from ACEA is for more scrapping schemes similar to what Italy did to help save Fiat - state-subsidized discounts for people who trade in their old bangers for new, less-polluting models.
Another involves 40 billion euros in cheap loans to help develop fuel-efficient technologies.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, one of the European Union's most influential figures, on Tuesday joined top officials from France and Germany in calling for a European-wide rescue plan similar to the one being considered by US President George W Bush.
"If the US administration is prepared to spend billions of dollars to save Ford and General Motors from collapse, then we cannot simply look on and abandon our manufacturers in Europe," Juncker told the German tabloid Bild.
Officials in Brussels say the European Commission is working on a range of short-term measures which should help the industry head off recession.
But they caution industrialists against raising their expectations too high.
The European Investment Bank (EIB), whose task it would be to provide carmakers with low-interest loans, has dismissed the 40- billion-euro demand as "fantasy".
Spokesman Rainer Schlitt told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
