19 December 2016
Statement
European Automotive Industry Response to Brexit
Introduction
Today, European automotive suppliers lead the world in the design, engineering and manufacturing of key vehicle components and systems technologies. A crucial factor behind this has been the success of the Single Market and the positive benefits of European Union membership.
The European automotive sector employs more than 12 million people, produces a quarter of the world’s vehicles each year and represents more than 6% of the EU’s GDP.
The UK plays an important role for our sector, with manufacturers and suppliers highly integrated across Europe. In the last 5 years, the production of cars in the UK increased by 25% up to 1.6 million cars in 2015 and is expected to reach 2 million by 2020. The UK is therefore one of Europe’s top automotive manufacturing countries. In 2015, 77% of the UK’s car production was exported, with the overwhelming majority received by the EU.
The UK is also the EU’s second largest new car market. In 2015 the UK imported more than
2.2 million cars – with the vast majority coming from other EU Member States. Taking these figures into account, it is clear that the automotive sector will be highly affected by the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. Our goal is to build upon the success story of recent years and minimise the impact of the UK leaving the European Union on our industry.
The Single Market is fundamental to the growth of the European automotive industry and it will remain a key priority for us to maintain and strengthen it to the benefit of all its members.
In light of BREXIT, we would like to highlight the following requests and priorities for the European automotive industry to be considered by the British government and the EU institutions.
Main requests
Priorities
Single Market Access
The Single Market allows for full and unrestricted trade in goods and services for the EU and UK automotive industry. Automotive businesses benefit from tariff-free access to the UK market and this should continue without disruption in the transition to a new relationship between the EU and the UK.
Trade
The European automotive industry benefits from a number of free trade agreements with third countries. Therefore, the European automotive industry calls upon the EU institutions and the UK government to provide continuity in market access to third countries and to maintain trading benefits from existing and potential future agreements across Europe.
Harmonisation
The EU and UK benefit from a system of harmonised and shared regulation concerning the automotive industry. Therefore the establishment of regulatory continuity to avoid a divergence of EU standards is crucial, under the European type approval system.
There are a number of important areas in which the EU and UK should prioritise continuity in a shared regulatory framework:
Continued collaboration on automotive priorities
Collaboration between the UK, EU and Member States on shared priorities including emissions, climate change and connected and automated driving should continue, with the UK seen as a strategic partner. Continued collaboration on these projects should be supported by UK funding in addition to the existing EU funding framework.
Free movement of labour
There is a wealth of talent in our industry and automotive companies must be able to continue to benefit from the free flow of labour to maintain competitiveness, fill skills gaps and foster economic growth and innovation. Therefore we encourage efforts to maintain the free mobility of labour between the EU and the UK.
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Note to Editors
CLEPA is the European Association of Automotive Suppliers. 120 of the world's most prominent suppliers for car parts, systems and modules and 23National trade associations and European sector associations are members of CLEPA, representing more than 3 housand companies, employing more than 5 million people and covering all products andservices within the automotive supply chain. Based in Brussels, Belgium, CLEPA is recognised as the natural discussion partner by the European Institutions, United Nations and fellow associations (ACEA, JAMA, MEMA, etc.).
Facts about the European automotive industry
For more information, please contact:
Mrs Amalia Di Stefano, CLEPA Acting CEO, Tel.: +32 2 743 91 35 www.clepa.eu [1]
Links:
[1] http://www.clepa.eu/