Volvo is limping out of a bruising quarter. The carmaker's CEO blames Chinese competition.

Volvo is on the ropes as it takes a pummeling from Chinese competitors.

The Swedish automaker said on Friday that it’s cutting 2,500, or about 6% of its workforce. It also reported that it lost more than $500 million over the most recent quarter. Shares plunged more than 20%. Volvo’s CEO blames competition from China.

The news about Volvo and China isn’t surprising, according to Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com.

“This is a pattern that has been going on, and I see no reason to think it won't continue to go on for the foreseeable future,” he said.

The crux of this pattern is a Chinese auto industry that can build lots of cars for really cheap. “And they're taking over market share in every country that can't compete on their price basis,” Brauer said. “There's just no getting around that.”

And where European and American carmakers can’t beat ‘em, they’re turning around and running away, said independent automotive researcher Glenn Mercer.

“The new order is a retreat of the Americans and Europeans to their home fortress markets, where they feel like they can defend themselves better,” he said.

Tariffs and import restrictions do some of the defending, which leaves American buyers in a fortress built on big, pricey cars.

“But if Americans are still happy with $90,000 pickup trucks, it provides a lot of profit margin, and from a shareholder point of view of these companies, maybe that's absolutely the right thing to do,” said Mercer.

We’ve already seen cheaper options disappear as a result. Because, Karl Brauer of iSeeCars said, Chinese competition is persuading some European and Asian carmakers to drop smaller, cheaper models.