The European car market is not what it used to be as it has been severely affected by the global credit crisis, a phenomenon that has caused grief in many parts of the world, bringing each country’s own economy to its knees. Greece was (and still is) hardest hit at first glance, even thou they’re attempting to build off-road-capable supercars, while other countries are making fewer cars. Perhaps a bit of optimism about the whole situation would not hurt at all…
In fact, the optimism now is not really based on unrealistic, wishful thinking, at least not if we are to listen to Carlos Ghosn, the boss of (now) both Renault and Nissan, since the other Carlos, Tavares, left the helm of the rhombus-badged manufacturer earlier this month.
The Brazilian CEO was present at the Frankfurt motor show (as per the second video posted below), where he talked about the European situation. Autocar quotes him as saying that “There are many indicators, all of them signaling the end of a period of decline” on the Old Continent, adding that “We have entered the third phase of recovery, where we are seeing new car sales rise again. We expect to stay there, growing slightly at one to two per cent a year, for the next couple of years.”
Mr. Ghosn’s words bring us joy, and we really do hope “the worst is over,” as he says. However, he does suggest that the best course of action for European governments to take is to “support growth rather than fight deficits” – that makes sense… in a cryptic kind of way.
By Andrei Nedelea
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