Today's headlines converge on the question defining Eastern Europe's auto industry: who builds the cars of the next decade, and where? With Serbia at the centre of the continent's supply-chain reckoning and Croatia and Bulgaria surfacing in the charging race, the region isn't watching this transition from the sidelines — it's in the middle of it. From today, the EastAutoNews Daily Briefing brings you a new short video every morning, wrapping the stories that matter in just a few minutes; here's what November 13 delivered.
The supply squeeze is no longer an abstract warning. Schaeffler is closing five sites and cutting a further 3,460 jobs, just as a new assessment delivers a blunt verdict: no vehicle can currently be built in Europe without Chinese components. With Serbia squarely in the spotlight of that debate, the region's suppliers face an uncomfortable truth — dependence is the new reality, and restructuring is its price.
The technology curve, meanwhile, keeps steepening. Europe's wireless EV charging market is forecast to grow at a 32.5% annual rate through 2034, arriving just as EU electric car sales reach 1.64 million units in eight months. With Croatia and Bulgaria both part of the new analysis, plug-free charging is shaping up as a regional story, not a Western European luxury.
And the sales data backs the momentum. Europe's fully electric car sales jumped 49% in October, powering an 8% year-on-year rise in global EV sales. Yes, the market cooled 17% from September's record — but that peak was inflated by plate-change effects, and the underlying trend is unmistakable: buyers are going electric, and they're doing it now.
Which raises a practical question: is your next car ready for a market moving this fast? Whether you're eyeing an EV or hunting a combustion bargain before the transition reshapes prices, you'll find sensational cars at sensational conditions at WorldTrader24 — Europe's marketplace with over 70,000 vehicles. Worth a browse before the market moves again.
