Who Really Made Your Car? (Special Issue)
These are challenging times for the U.S.
motor vehicle industry. Employment
in this industry declined by 26% during
the first seven years of the twenty-first
century—from 1,160,000 in 2000
to 860,000 in 2007. During the same
period, the share of the U.S. market
held by the U.S.-owned Detroit Three
carmakers (Chrysler
LLC, Ford Motor Co.,
and General Motors
Corp.) declined
from 65% to 51%.3
While the focus has
traditionally been on
the carmakers, they
now provide just 22%
of industry jobs: In
2007, employment
in the motor vehicle
parts sector in the
United States totaled
673,000, compared
with 186,000 in final
assembly.
Suppliers also provide approximately
70% of the value added of vehicles.
We know relatively little about the
parts suppliers, despite their importance
to the motor vehicle industry.
The authors' new book—titled Who Really Made
Your Car? Restructuring and Geographic
Change in the Auto Industry—sheds light
on the parts suppliers by focusing on
the changing structure of the motor
vehicle industry, as well as the resulting
changes in the geography of production.
