Pricing power becomes even more essential during pandemic

European automakers face a dilemma as the region slowly emerges from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Their finances are so precarious that they can't use discounting to revive car sales as they did following past crises such as the global economic downturn in 2008-09. Therefore, experts say their only option is to continue to try to raise prices.

"If automakers are too aggressive in their efforts to stimulate demand, they could cripple their pricing power for years," a recent report published by the European arm of the Boston Consulting Group said. The strategy firm argued that that discounting following the Great Recession suppressed pricing for much of the next decade, resulting in the low margins of today.