The BBC's Mark Mardell blogs about an interview with a German car worker, facing a temporary lay off when the Daimler factory where he works is closed down between mid-December and mid-January.

I have a great deal of sympathy for him - I don't like to see ordinary people suffering. I don't even like to see the car industry suffering. But it's not the fault of environmentalists who are more and more frustrated with the carmakers failing to get their CO2 emission levels down, and it's not the EU's fault that the car industry has failed to read the signs and failed even to meet its own targets on CO2 emissions.

Some comments on the BBC blog put the blame on the EU for forcing them to take on extra costs at a time like this. But the blame can't be put at the EU's door when the legislation is not even finalised yet and it's possible that the EU will approve a €40 billion loan to help the manufacturers go green.

But though no one foresaw an economic downturn of these proportions, European car makers knew for more than 10 years that they would have to make reductions in CO2 emissions. And for the most part, they chose to ignore it and carry on with business as usual.

© Greenpeace / Philip Reynaers

The latest figures from ACEA are bleak - with carmakers across the board showing falling sales in October when compared with last year's figures. But though Daimler's sales for the past 9 month are down 4.2% compared to last year, sales of Smart cars are up by almost 12%.

To me, that says an awful lot, but I'm still wondering when the car industry will get the message.