In the past few days, I have read that China will take over the global automotive industry-and that Chinese manufacturers are fighting for survival. Both claims contain part of the truth, but neither describes the whole picture.

My esteemed friend Beatrix C. Keim recently wrote something that stayed with me:

“There is no longer one global automotive playbook.”

I think this is one of the most important observations in the current automotive debate.

China has developed highly competitive electric vehicles, advanced software and increasingly ambitious brands. Chinese manufacturers have learned quickly, shortened development cycles and corrected many of their early misconceptions about Europe.

At the same time, the Chinese market is extraordinarily demanding. Price competition is brutal, margins are under pressure and a constantly changing field of brands is competing for capital, customers and long-term relevance. As Beatrix also wrote, “Success in China today does not automatically translate into sustainable success tomorrow.”

That should not be interpreted as evidence that Europe has little to fear. Nor should China’s technological progress be treated as proof that the future has already been decided.

Europe still possesses exceptional engineering expertise, respected brands, industrial networks and decades of experience operating across different markets. Its challenge is not to abandon those strengths, but to combine them with greater speed, simpler structures and a much stronger willingness to adapt.

The useful question is therefore not whether Europe or China will win.

It is which companies can combine technology, speed, customer understanding, financial discipline and organisational transformation. There will probably be winners and losers on both sides.

Perhaps Beatrix is right: there is no longer one global automotive playbook. The companies that continue to search for one may be the ones that struggle most.