This unique Handbook examines the impacts on, and responses to, economic geography explicitly from the perspective of the behaviour, mechanics, systems and experiences of different firms in various types of industries. The industry studies approach allows the authors to explain why the economic...

Today, the distinction between “American” and “foreign” vehicles is not so clear: Some models produced by the American-owned Detroit Three carmakers have a smaller share of domestic parts than models produced by foreign-owned carmakers. This article examines how much domestic content...

In the past few decades, the evolving relations between automakers and their parts suppliers have resulted in shifts in the location of production across North America. The authors explore the ongoing structural changes to the automotive industry and explain their local, regional, and...

On April 18 and 19, 2006, the Chicago Fed held a conference at its Detroit Branch to examine the ongoing structural changes in the U.S. auto industry. As suppliers play an increasingly central role in auto production, it has become crucial for carmakers to have a strong relationship with their...

Mexico’s share of automotive production has grown relative to those of its neighbors to the north because the country has become more integrated with North America and pursued trade agreements with numerous other countries. Those developments have boosted Mexico’s motor vehicle production by...

Electronics make up nearly 40% of the content of today’s average new automobile, and their share will continue to grow. On June 2, 2011, as part of the eighteenth annual Automotive Outlook Symposium (AOS), the Chicago Fed hosted a panel of experts at its Detroit Branch to examine the current...

Amid the global recession in 2008–09, the U.S. auto industry experienced its worst downturn in recent memory. While conditions have improved in 2010, questions about which factors will shape the industry’s competitiveness remain. The Chicago Fed hosted a conference on May 10–11, 2010, at...

This article describes the changing location of motor vehicle production in North America during the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Production has increasingly concentrated in a narrow corridor between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico known as auto alley. Information is derived from a...