As Europe seeks technological sovereignty, the Strategic Seven represent more than a coalition of leading companies. They reflect a broader institutional shift—from regulating markets to helping shape the industrial capabilities that will define Europe’s future competitiveness.
Strategic Industries Forum
Exploring the industries, infrastructures and ecosystems powering economic transformation.
Europe’s automotive transition is not only shaped by brands, innovation and industrial policy. It also depends on the factories, suppliers and production ecosystems spread across Central Europe that transform strategy into physical output and industrial capacity.
Sweden has long approached mobility as a societal system rather than a product alone. As electrification, software and platform economics reshape the industry, safety, sustainability and systems thinking may become either enduring advantages or increasingly difficult differentiators.
Italy built its automotive identity around craftsmanship, design and emotion rather than scale. As electrification and software redefine mobility, brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and Alfa Romeo face a profound question: can aspiration remain a competitive advantage in a digital age?
France approaches automotive differently from Germany. Where Germany perfected engineering, France has long relied on coordination. Electrification, batteries and industrial policy are now testing whether state-led strategies can still shape competitive markets.
Germany’s automotive industry remains one of Europe’s greatest industrial achievements. Yet electrification, software, geopolitics and rising energy costs are challenging a model built upon engineering excellence, manufacturing scale and decades of export success.
