Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn said the European auto industry needs to close around 10 factories to reduce overcapacity caused by the region’s slumping market.

Winterkorn said VW itself did not need to make cuts thanks to strong growth in the United States, China and Russia, but he said Europe has excess capacity because vehicle sales across the region are down between 3 million and 3.5 million since 2007.

“Basically, it’s 10 factories that could be closed,” he said on Tuesday at the Frankfurt auto show.

By the end of next year Ford Motor, General Motors’ Opel unit, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and Volvo will between them have shut five vehicle manufacturing plants in western Europe. These are on top of earlier closures of an Opel factory in Antwerp, Belgium, and a Fiat plant in Termini Imerese, Italy.

Restructuring consultants AlixPartners estimate that only 60 percent of European car plants will operate at the 70 percent to 80 percent level of capacity utilization needed to operate profitably this year, up from 40 percent in 2011.

The region needs to reduce capacity by three million units in the coming years to reach a sustainable utilization level because the market will remain flat, the consultants said in a study released to coincide with the Frankfurt show.