The European car market is growing again, but Romania’s automotive industry is losing jobs. . Between 2021 and 2025, the companies present in every year of that period cut their workforce by more than 30,000 people, even though the sector’s revenue grew. . In the first half of 2026, vehicle production fell by 12.7%. A well-run supplier, with up-to-date certifications and customers among the large system suppliers, can at the same time lose a combustion engine programme that is not being renewed, a wiring harness contract moved to another country, and the margin on a fixed-price contract negotiated before energy became more expensive.
The central finding of the report is that the volume allocated to Romania no longer follows European demand. It depends on international groups’ decisions about which model is built in which plant. The traditional manufacturers’ plants in Europe run at around 60% of capacity, and every model and every supply contract is compared with locations that have cheaper energy or cheaper labour. On that test, Romania’s advantage has narrowed. . Hourly labour costs rose by 64% between 2021 and 2025, and in the second half of 2025 electricity for industry cost 43% more than in Spain. The effect differs from one link of the chain to another. Wiring harness makers lost a third of their staff, and makers of internal combustion engine components have entered decline. The two assembly plants and the electronics makers grew revenue with almost unchanged headcount.
2026 added two new pressures on top of the 15% US tariffs: the conflict in the Middle East, which raised energy prices across Europe, and a 65% rise in China’s vehicle exports in the first half. The data show that the effects are already visible in employment and margins.
The report follows these trends through European industry into the accounts of the four links of the Romanian chain: vehicle manufacturers, tier 1 system suppliers, tier 2 and 3 component suppliers and raw material processors. It also shows what the sector means for the economy. It also shows what the sector means for the economy. The automotive industry accounts for 14.6% of employment in Romanian manufacturing, the second largest share in the European Union. On our estimate, the labour cost of its 205,000 direct employees brings in around EUR 1.9bn a year in public revenue.
The analysis starts from the financial statements of 2,325 companies in the automotive chain, tracked from 2021 to 2025. The 2025 reference sample comprises the 936 companies with revenue of at least RON 1m. The balance-sheet data are read alongside statistics from the National Institute of Statistics (“INS”) and Eurostat, the Financial Stability Report of the National Bank of Romania (“BNR”), data from ACEA and ACAROM, studies by BCG, Roland Berger and the International Energy Agency (“IEA”), and the Insolvency Proceedings Bulletin (“BPI”). The conclusions come from INFINEXA’s independent analysis of the processed data.
The full report can be downloaded in PDF, in Romanian or in English:
What the full report covers
The first part describes the global market: vehicle volume is flat, growth has moved to Asia, and the value of a vehicle is shifting from mechanics to the battery, electronics and software. . The second part shows the pressure on Europe: overcapacity in the plants, the job cuts announced by suppliers, and the new rules on emissions, European content, tariffs and steel. The third part analyses Romania: the two assembly plants, the accounts of the 936 companies, developments by product group and the cost of production against competing locations. The last part shows how a global trend reaches a company’s balance sheet, which signals appear before financial distress, and how the sector could develop to 2030, on a slowdown trajectory and on one in which Romania loses the production of a major model.
The report is written for banks and lenders with exposure to the sector, for suppliers and their management, for insolvency and restructuring practitioners, for employers’ organisations and for public authorities. . In our view, the right moment to intervene in an automotive chain is when a company fails to win the nomination for a new vehicle programme, two to four years before its balance sheet deteriorates. The report shows which signals appear in that window and how to read them in time.
