Bílina-Chudeřice is an unlikely stage for a continental showdown. Here, in the Czech Republic, Japanese glassmaker AGC operates one of Europe's largest automotive glass factories, turning out about 32 million pieces of automotive glass every year. As Germany and France champion a 'Made in Europe' plan that would tie imported cars to European parts, that kind of local footprint has suddenly become the industry's most valuable currency.
The proposals have unnerved global auto suppliers for good reason. Under the plan, cars imported from Japan would have to source their parts from Europe — a requirement that rewards companies producing inside the bloc and squeezes those reliant on long, transcontinental component chains. Across the supplier base, the talk is now of little else: costs and competitiveness.
South Korean automakers could also be hurt. Hyundai and Kia build cars in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but they also ship models into Europe — and those imports would sit squarely in the crosshairs of the new content requirements. Their Central European factories produce inside the bloc; the models they ship in do not.
