Carmakers dealing with economic gloom and weak consumer appetite in the battered European market pointed towards inevitable cuts to plant capacity and labour costs at the Paris auto show, as hopes for a recovery appeared to recede.
Company bosses were resigned to a further slump in demand, with several executives suggesting on Thursday there would be no rebound within two years.
"We're bracing for more negative surprises in 2013, perhaps also in 2014," said Christian Klingler, sales chief at Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen.
Europe's deteriorating economic conditions have weighed particularly on mass-market carmakers, while premium brands are also showing they are not immune - especially with China's pace slowing.
Co-ordinated plant closures to deal with overcapacity in Europe are now more likely following a five-year market slump, according to Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, also head of European auto trade association ACEA.
Excess production capacity is piling pressure on carmakers' profitability as sales stagnate. Total European car sales fell 6.6 percent in the period from January to August.
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"We have a collective responsibility in the industry to carry out a progressive restructuring at the European level," said Marchionne, who added that he had discussed tax breaks on labour costs and exports with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
Carlos Ghosn, CEO of French carmaker Renault, saw "zero chance" of a government-led restructuring of Europe's auto industry akin to the restructuring in the U.S. in 2009 spurred by the bankruptcies of General Motors Corp and Chrysler Corp.
Instead, he suggested it was every carmaker for itself.
"Every company is going to have to deal with its own problems," Ghosn said in an interview with Reuters Television at the show.
French arch-competitor PSA Peugeot Citroen, which is currently losing 350 euros on every car sold in Europe, has already said it plans to cut more than 10,000 jobs, close one assembly plant and shrink another.
Chief Executive Philippe Varin predicted rivals would follow suit and that a certain number of European plants would have to close.
Renault plans to ask unions for a new nationwide deal on pay and conditions to avert mass layoffs, Chief Operating Officer Carlos Tavares told Reuters as he pointed to an uncertain outlook.
"We can't see the beginning of the beginning of a rebound," Tavares said.
Companies at the auto show, which opened to the media on Thursday, showed off no-frills cars they hope will lure cost-conscious drivers in Europe, alongside premium models to tempt buyers in China, where sales nonetheless remain strong.
Even automakers that had been thriving, poaching market share from ailing competitors, are feeling the pinch.
VW's rhetoric has changed markedly in the last week with the company saying conditions had become "significantly more difficult" and Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn expecting 2013 to be "a very challenging year", especially in Europe.
European car sales dropped 8.5 percent in August for an 11th straight monthly decline led by Ford, General Motors and Fiat.
The year-on-year decline was the sharpest for six months, as mid-range brands bore the brunt of the slump in markets including Italy, France and Germany.
Mass-market automakers, facing the biggest pressure - squeezed by low-cost brands on the one hand and premium marques on the other - are hoping their own forays, both upmarket and downmarket, will pay off.
Renault's Romanian affiliate Dacia is showing all-new versions of the Logan and Sandero models that have been an unexpected hit in Europe.
Prospects for China's auto market - the world's largest - are also in focus at the show, which opens to the public on Saturday. After boosting the earnings of premium carmakers such as Daimler AG , Audi and BMW, Chinese growth is beginning to slow.