The international automotive industry and the developing world

This paper provides a brief survey of the international automotive industry and its leading transnational companies. Data on recent trends in production and trade are reviewed and the evolution of a corporate strategy in the post-oil-crisis period described. The industry seems, after decades of relatively gradual evolution, to be in the throes of major change, leading to an even greater concentration of production in the hands of the leading transnationals and also to a greater international dispertion of productive facilities. Some implications of this for the developing world are mentioned.