The European Commission's Industrial Acceleration Act (IAA), the legislative backbone of the EU's 'Made in Europe' car plan, has moved to the centre of the continent's industrial policy debate. According to Euronews, Paris and Berlin struck a car-industry deal on 16 October that links the 2035 engine rules to the Made in Europe push, tying the bloc's most contested emissions deadline to the drive to build more of Europe's cars and components inside the bloc.
The Franco-German blueprint is, however, already meeting resistance abroad. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has been surprised by pushback from Japan and South Korea, and NHK World reports that he is set to relay concerns over the EU's Made in Europe EV scheme — an early sign that the proposal is straining relations with key trading partners before the legislative process has run its course.
For Turkey's automotive sector, the stakes are immediate. The IAA proposal has brought new investment and supply processes onto the sector's agenda, and industry representative Saim Aşçı has argued that Turkey's positioning should not be limited to its existing investments. Turkish industry groups regard the Commission's proposal as a critical threshold that will directly shape the sector's future in the European market and the confidence with which new capacity is committed.
The plan also extends the logic of the EU's local-content drive, including the 70% content test that rattled suppliers across the region when it emerged. For Eastern European supply chains, many of which serve both Asian OEMs and cross-border production networks, the final wording of the law will help determine where the next round of investment lands.
With Tokyo and Seoul objecting and Berlin now relaying their concerns, negotiations over the IAA's final text promise to be contested. Regional stakeholders — from component suppliers to plant operators — will be watching how firmly the 2035 linkage and European-content demands survive contact with the bloc's largest Asian partners.
For buyers and dealers, whatever emerges from Brussels will take time to filter through to model line-ups and prices, but sourcing decisions are made today. Anyone currently looking for a vehicle can find sensational cars at sensational conditions at WorldTrader24, Europe's marketplace with over 70,000 vehicles, and compare offers across the continent while the policy detail is still being fought over.
