Embedding the market during times of crisis: the European automobile cartel during a decade of crisis (1973–1985)

Abstract

The crisis of the long 1970s marked a structural transformation of the European automobile industry. It shifted from national oligopolies to supranational oligopoly coordinated by European institutions. This article presents this historical transition by looking at competition law as the key regulation for politically governing a European market of automobiles. In particular, it reconstructs the central role played by the European Commission in creating a legal exemption from the general rules of competition through a specific regulation (123/1985), which for a decade limited competition in automobile distribution between multinationals at the expense of distributors and consumers.