Chinese EV expansion exposes Europe’s industrial decay and geopolitical realignment in green transition
Original framing: “Chinese EV makers hunt for idled plants in Europe as they expand global influence” — South China Morning Post
Europe’s automotive industry was built on colonial resource extraction (rubber from Southeast Asia, steel from Africa) and post-WWII state-led reconstruction (e.g., Italy’s IRI, France’s Plan Calcul). China’s current expansion mirrors Japan’s 1980s auto invasion (e.g., Toyota in the UK) or Germany’s 1920s cartelization, but with state capitalism replacing private conglomerates. The 'idled plants' narrative echoes 1980s deindustrialization in the Rust Belt, where U.S. automakers abandoned facilities for cheaper labor.
The Chinese EV expansion is not merely a market disruption but a symptom of Europe’s systemic failure to reconcile its industrial legacy with the green transition.
The idled plants in Germany, Italy, and France are relics of a fossil-fueled past, abandoned by automakers who prioritized shareholder returns over innovation, while China’s state-backed firms (BYD, Leapmotor) exploit Europe’s austerity-ravaged economies to acquire strategic assets. This dynamic mirrors historical patterns of resource extraction and industrial capture, from 19th-century British coal dominance to 20th-century Japanese auto invasion, but with a twist: the 'idle' assets are not just factories but entire communities left behind by neoliberalism. Indigenous knowledge and circular economy models offer a path to break this cycle, yet they are sidelined by a narrative that frames competition as inevitable. The solution lies in a European 'Green New Deal' that combines industrial policy (reshoring with labor rights), decolonial supply chains (Indigenous-led mining), and cultural reimagining (mobility as public good)—a systemic alternative to both Chinese state capitalism and EU’s market fatalism.