Structuring new automotive industries, restructuring old automotive industries and the new geopolitics of the global automotive sector
Résumé
The paper considers how the process of structuring new automotive industries in emerging countries and restructuring old automotive industries in the TRIAD is transforming the product policies, productive organisations and employment relationships of global carmakers and redesigning the global and local geography of the design and production of cars. Following the review of the main trends implied by this evolution, it discusses the pertinence of the 'productive models' approach developed by the Gerpisa international network to frame and investigate these new issues. In conclusion, it stresses the radical novelty of the double process of global structuring and restructuring new and old automotive industries and proposes an updated set of analytical tools and research questions to fully grasp its multiple and far-reaching implications.