One of Europe's top executives called yesterday for political action to tackle the damage being done to the car industry by the overvalued euro.
Carl-Peter Forster, president of General Motors Europe, said the disadvantage European car manufacturers were suffering because of the high value of the euro against Far East currencies such as the yen and the Korean won had been underestimated by governments within the eurozone.
He estimated that the currency difference gave Japanese car makers such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda a 3,000 to 4,000 advantage over their European rivals on each model sold.
"It is not understood how big a contribution this makes to our lack of competitiveness," said Mr Forster. "We have to fight that and it is something our politicians should really deal with. It is not something you can leave to the free market."
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