Regionalisation or Globalisation of Automotive Production Networks? Lessons from Import Patterns of Four European Countries

The automotive industry has long had a reputation for organising its production networks on a macro†regional scale. However, over the 2000–2012 time span, extended vertical disintegration of both carmakers and mega†suppliers, and the 2008–2009 trade collapse suggest that this geographical organisation pattern could have weakened, giving way to a genuine globalisation of auto†parts trade. This paper first reviews arguments likely to explain why automotive production networks are multi†scalar, ranging from local to global. Empirical analysis of international auto†parts trade data from Germany, France, UK, and Spain suggests that there has been little progression in globalisation of production networks. General data features can be best explained as follows: 1) the auto†parts import level of a given country is mainly driven by its automobile production level, and by the degree of presence of foreign headquartered carmakers; and 2) the breakdown of imports into procurement flows from near†distant and far†distant countries is mainly driven by the degree of presence of carmakers headquartered in far†distant countries.