French car parts maker Valeo has said the industry is undergoing a “Darwinian transformation” and warned that most job losses at the company will be in Europe unless Brussels protects the sector from Chinese competition.

Christophe Périllat told the Financial Times that the declining car market “demands a constant optimisation and adaptation that is permanent”, saying his company had not finished with restructurings that led it to close 38 sites from 2022 to 2025, while opening only four in the same period.

The warning comes as the European Commission gears up to respond on December 10 to demands from the industry, including Valeo, to tweak its target to ban new sales of combustion engines in 2035 and introduce rules on the amount of European-produced content in cars.