The Automotive Industry In Transition

Every fact of the world's automotive industry in undergoing fundamental change. This transformation is being prompted by a wide range of forces but is primarily associated with the increase in the international competition and rapid advances in technology. The world automotive market is growing far more slowly than production capacity. New entrants from countries such as Korea and Yugoslavia are further adding to the competitive pressures. Furthermore, rapid changes in both product and process technology and the engineering process arc causing a shift in the way vehicles are designed, developed, and produced. Consumers are increasing their demands for affordable, high quality vehicles with features designed to meet a variety of expectations. World class cost and quality are rapidly becoming tin- price of admission to the competition but, in themselves will not assure long term success. This presentation will emphasize the dynamics of change in the North American industry, covering a number of dimensions including restructuring, technological I rends, and manufacturer/supplier relationships. Rather than a historical perspective, this discussion will be from a future oriented perspective: The inter-relationships between different aspects of the industry will be explored to provide a “systems” based understanding of the transformation. The University or Michigan Delphi Forecast and Analysis of the Automotive Industry Through 1995 (Delphi IV) and other studies of the automotive industry will be used as data sources in this presentation.