Nobody wants our cars

Few countries are as dependent on the automobile industry of Sweden. With 15% of export is a major export industries of the country. "Around Saab Automobile, Volvo Cars, Scania and Volvo Trucks are composed of aggregates of hundreds of companies that provide products and services. When car manufacturers go wrong, the shock wave is reflected on the chain subcontractors, "says the weekly Fokus. Besides "the 140 000 employees in the automotive industry, who work for industries as diverse as restaurants, hospitals or banks." The latest unemployment figures show the most serious situation in the country ever since the 1970s: 100 000 people were laid off during the last six months, 53% in manufacturing. The auto industry was already a victim of a fall in demand before the global financial crisis. Aftonbladet noted that Saab has not made a profit since thirteen years. And last fall, orders suddenly stopped. The same goes for Volvo. "The rest of the world unfortunately did not see that Saab and Volvo cars manufactured exceptional", ironically the newspaper, which estimates that 28 billion kroner (2.5 billion) spent by government to research in this sector and other ad hoc support not enough to develop customers.