The crisis of the car – Europe changes from winner to loser

As early as the 1960s, in the context of mass motorisation, the car ran into a crisis of legitimacy.

First in the USA and then in Europe too, the car-friendly city, with its noise and exhaust fumes, and the enormous number of people killed in road traffic, led to criticism of the car. Basically, that criticism has persisted right up to the present day.

In view of the inactivity of the US automobile industry, US legislators enforced technological progress for more safety and better environmental protection as from the late 1960s. The solutions came mainly from Germany and Sweden. Because of their longer product cycles, manufacturers from those countries invested their hopes in the overfulfilment of American standards. And so it was that, as from the 1970s and 80s, Europe took on a leading technological role in the fields of environmental protection and passive safety.

Europe led the way in terms of technology, but gradually lost that leadership position as from the end of the 1990s. Toyota reacted to California's zero emissions programme in 1990 as the leader in hybrid technology, while Tesla was the first to solve the range problems of the electric car. Via access to important raw materials, China recognised its opportunity to take on a leading role in that transformation process.

VW, once a pioneer in the motorisation of China, thought it would be able to expand its market share in the USA with the diesel engine at the beginning of the 21st century, in spite of the fact that – there as in China, and in contrast to Europe – the diesel was always thought of as dirty and had never been able to achieve any sustainable success.