They likely saw it coming… and deliberately did it this way.
All local industry distorts their relevant politics. There’s lobbyists in the EU too.
The EU economy has a lot of car manufacturing, so cars are probably a big deal in Brussels.
Especially in Germany, which has several major manufacturers (Daimler-Benz, VW, BMW) that are important to the economy. Additionally, VW is part owned by the government of one of the states, which is why they are frequently favored by the government. Despite various scandals at VW, there are rarely any serious consequences for the company, because the government always finds a way to make trouble go away.
And Germany is fairly influential in the EU so they probably extend the protection of these companies to the EU level.
EU politics are basically French, German politics vs smaller countries now, I think. The triangle balance of France, Germany, UK has been replaced by a more centralised but also more diffuse model, although Poland seems to be becoming more important.
> The EU economy has a lot of car manufacturing, so cars are probably a big deal in Brussels.
Car manufacturing is a strategic component of a nation's defense infrastructure. It goes way beyond trade protectionism.