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It is practically impossible to delineate the boundaries of automotive industry and give an indication of its economic significance using readily available statistics. As a very wide range of products are used to assemble a motor vehicle – practically all industrial sectors supply the automotive industry –, data collected by statistical offices are usually too narrow in terms of coverage. In other words, quite a few automotive suppliers are classified as leather, rubber, plastics, paint, glass, cable or metal producing and processing companies, foundries, electrical and electronics companies, etc. The EU statistical classification also follows this line, i.e. motor vehicle parts and accessories (the “old” NACE 34.30[1]) excludes engine and tyre manufacturers, most of the electrical and electronic components, as well glass, plastic or certain castings and other metal parts. The Hungarian statistical system follows this practice, and thus figures only cover companies classified statistically as automotive firms. Relying on these types of data, ‘narrowly defined’ automotive industry (proxied as vehicle manufacturing, DM) has a significant weight in Hungary: its share in industrial production has increased from 12.2% in 2000 to 17.3% by 2007, i.e. moved from the 3^rd to the 2^nd place. Its revenues are earned overwhelmingly from exports: 90-91% in 2001-2008. Thus its share in manufacturing exports has exceed 25% by 2006-2008 (up from 22-23% in 2001-2005). The industry has a noteworthy 11.5% slice in BERD, and the share of innovative automotive firms is higher than that of manufacturing firms on average. Hence, there has been a strong case to analyse the innovation strategies of Hungarian automotive firms.

The focus will be mainly on two aspects: The first aspect is the quickly proceeding integration of China in the automotive value chains in East and South-East Asia and the dynamic relationship between established and emerging markets in this region resulting from it. In this respect, the Japanese supply parts industry and the evolving Japanese- Chinese relationships in the production of supply parts will be of especial interest.
 
The second aspect the paper wishes to discuss, concerns the competitiveness of the Chinese supply parts manufacturers and the growing difficulties China is facing in establishing a strong national supply parts industry. In this respect, the structure of the Chinese supply parts industry, the problems of restructuring and concentrating the industry as well as the shortcomings of the development policy in the past will be addressed.

The paper will be divided into three parts. The first part will briefly give an overview over the size and structure of the Chinese supply parts industry as well as the development of the Chinese market for auto parts in recent years. In the second part we will discuss the topic of China as a production location for supply parts for the world car industry.
The third and largest part will then address the development of the Chinese national supply parts manufacturers and the question whether they are to become powerful competitors on a global level in the near future. Especially in this second and third part, in addition to the Chinese materials many data with respect to Japanese supply parts manufacturers in China will presented in order to illustrate both, the deep integration of China in the value chains in Asia on the one hand, and the
difficulties Chinese companies are facing to upgrade their position in these production networks. The paper will end with a critical assessment of the current situation and a short outlook on the future tasks and prospects of the Chinese auto supply part industry.

 

This paper considers the prospects for Mexico’s automotive industry as it has evolved, especially since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, in the context of these nested and highly dynamic global and regional value chains.  We find that the fate of an industry in a small, regionally embedded country like Mexico is tied to factors that lie largely outside the control of the state or of local firms.
Ironically, the flagging prospects of the Big 3 automakers have created more risks for Mexico and Canada than it has for the United States.
 

This article focuses on the emergence of a new international division of labour in the auto parts industry. Its first section examines the hypothesis that the shift to modular production offers a chance to modify value chain geography inasmuch as modularity causes new opportunities and constraints in geographic proximity terms. An analytical matrix is provided and applied to New Accession Countries, with special consideration being given to French suppliers' circumstances due to the requirement that host country characteristics and company specificities be analysed simultaneously. The second section tests this matrix using statistical data and culminates in a case-study. It will be demonstrated that New Accession Countries are being integrated with the rest of the Continent, due to firms' ongoing search for location-related advantages and because of a tightening/easing interaction that is associated with proximity constraints.