For 30 years I've taken an interest in keeping the car industry competitive. Only a year or two ago I was sitting in crisis meetings, where the future for much of the sector looked grim. I am very pleased  to see that you are in a much better position today.

But we cannot ignore that context. At the national and EU level we took a decision that the automotive sector is critical to Europe's future. With a whole industrial ecosystem and 12 million jobs depending on it, this was the reasonable position to take. But more than that, we said that we needed an industry that could be in the driver's seat globally.

To reinforce our position we have to improve the very basics of the sector in a way that ad-hoc crisis aid cannot: only sustained excellence in research can ensure the future successes of this industry. With the worst of the crisis behind us, now is the right moment to discuss how to get there.

I am convinced that one critical aspect of your efforts has to be European collaboration.

I know that your sector has the capacity to do great things. During the Public Private Partnership (PPP) conference in Valencia in April this year I sat in a car of the future.
 

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