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The geographical restructuring of the European automobile industry in the 2000s

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  • Frigant, Vincent
  • Miollan, Stéphane

Abstract

The paper seeks to provide a quantitative and macroeconomic picture of the new geography of the automotive industry in Europe. Since ten new members joined the European Union in 2004, automakers and suppliers have changed their location strategies and now view the whole of Europe as a single fully integrated space. Using data on employment, production, trade and foreign control of affiliated firms, the paper measures the East-West relocation process. The first section studies the motor vehicle sector, highlighting a sharp rise in the activity levels of Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), as well as the specific role that Germany plays. It is crucial to remember that motor vehicle manufacturing remains a key traditional economic activity for some of the larger Western European countries. The second section looks at the automotive parts sector. The CEECs’ growth is particularly impressive when consideration is given to employment, a variable largely driven by foreign firms’ decision to export much of their local production. At the same time, the offshoring process remains more or less selective even if it often revolves around labour-intensive activities – explaining in turn the creation today of embedded East-West networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Frigant, Vincent & Miollan, Stéphane, 2014. "The geographical restructuring of the European automobile industry in the 2000s," MPRA Paper 53509, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:53509
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Frigant & Martin Zumpe, 2014. "The persistent heterogeneity of trade patterns: A comparison of four European Automotive Global Production Networks," Working Papers hal-02150622, HAL.
    2. Guillaume Assogba & Samuel Klebaner, 2015. "Vers un cadre d’analyse institutionnaliste de la politique de filière : Quelle cohérence pour la politique de filière française ?," Post-Print hal-03146993, HAL.
    3. Pérez Sánchez, Laura À. & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2024. "Analyzing the energy metabolism of the automotive industry to study the differences found in this sector across EU countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    4. Klebaner, Samuel & Assogba, Guillaume, 2018. "Quelle cohérence pour la politique française de filières ? Les décalages entre la filière solidaire telle qu’elle devrait être et ce qu’elle est [What Coherence for the French “filières” Policy? Th," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 23.
    5. Vincent FRIGANT & Martin ZUMPE, 2014. "Are automotive Global Production Networks becoming more global? Comparison of regional and global integration processes based on auto parts trade data," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2014-09, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    6. Guillaume Assogba & Samuel Klebaner, 2015. "Toward an institutional framework to analyse the ‘filiere’ policy: Is the french ‘filiere’ policy coherent? [Vers un cadre d'analyse institutionnaliste de la politique de filière : Quelle cohérence," Working Papers hal-03986710, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    automobile; Europe; deindustrialisation; relocation; offshoring; industry geography; auto parts industry;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F62 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Macroeconomic Impacts
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • L62 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Automobiles; Other Transportation Equipment; Related Parts and Equipment
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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