The UK is willing to spend £450 million a year so that students from EU member states pay the same fees as British students – but the plan is explicitly contingent on Britain joining the EU's Made in Europe industrial programme, officials said in a Guardian exclusive published on 1 November. The offer is one of the starkest signals yet of a post-Brexit reset in London's dealings with Brussels, and it puts industrial policy at the heart of the negotiation.
For the automotive industry, the condition attached to the offer matters more than the cash. Made in Europe is an EU industrial programme, and British entry would pull UK manufacturing back inside the bloc's industrial-policy perimeter. What that would mean for cross-Channel supply chains – including the component networks that link assembly plants in Western Europe with suppliers across Central and Eastern Europe – remains an open question, but the officials' framing makes clear that industrial access, not just student mobility, is now on the table.
Inside the EU, meanwhile, the regulatory ratchet is already dictating product plans. Subaru will drop its entire petrol lineup in Europe by 2028, with heavy restrictions and low sales volumes making the continent a test bed for the automaker's electric pivot. For CEE dealers, that sets a hard run-out clock: petrol Subaru models will vanish from European price lists within roughly two years, and anyone wanting one will be choosing from a shrinking pool. Traders comparing run-out stock or sourcing alternatives can browse live listings on WorldTrader24.de, Europe's marketplace with more than 70,000 vehicles.
