Towards a Community Acceleration Survey for Europe’s automotive industry

The European automotive industry is undergoing a major transformation in light of the twin transitions of decarbonisation and digitalisation. While Europe has long held a leading position in internal combustion engine vehicles, it now faces increasing competition in the emerging net-zero technological trajectory centred on battery electric vehicles. Although aggregate indicators continue to reflect strong innovation performance by EU-based firms, they often do not differentiate between the legacy and emerging trajectories. As the global transformation of the automotive industry enters the ‘acceleration phase’ - marked by battery electric vehicles reaching mass markets - effective policy making requires more timely and differentiated evidence on changes in innovation activities and production capacity. To address this need, this paper proposes the introduction of a Community Acceleration Survey (CAS) for the European automotive industry. Building on existing survey instruments, the CAS would enable a rapid tracking of developments in innovation activities and adjustments in production capacity across both legacy and emerging technology trajectories as well as corporate perceptions of clean industrial policy mixes. It would offer just-in-time policy insights by capturing firm-level data on the transformation of business activities and the role of policies. The paper outlines a proposed CAS questionnaire structure, consisting of five question blocks covering general enterprise information, clean industrial policy mix perceptions, innovation and production activities in both trajectories, organisational characteristics, and an assessment of and responses to acceleration challenges. The CAS is proposed for implementation in EU Member States with a strong automotive industry presence, such as Germany, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Italy. As a panel survey, it would generate a continuous and targeted evidence base to support European policymakers in navigating the ongoing transformation of the automotive industry in a manner that aligns decarbonisation efforts with industrial competitiveness.