Automobile and Components
The automobile industry has been breaking new ground for more than 100 years, first in Europe with the invention of the automobile by Daimler and Benz, then through the introduction of mass production by Ford in Michigan, and finally through the introduction of lean productiontechniques in Japan by companies like Toyota. But the industry is more or less mature—the Big Three have dominated the U.S. market for many years. However, there’s a twist: The Big Three contains a hybrid German-American company, DaimlerChrysler; but note that the primary address of the company is in Stuttgart, Germany. It gets juicier: In August 2003, Toyota nudged out DaimlerChrysler as the number three automaker in the United States in terms of units sold. Moreover, U.S. companies own many premium foreign brands: General Motors owns Saab, while Ford owns Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, and Aston Martin. What all of this means is that automobile manufacturing is one of the most global of the manufacturing sector? For job seekers, it means potential international assignments. Another good thing about automobile manufacturing is that its end user is a consumer and that consumer is highly influenced by marketing messages and design. Marketers and designers look out; automobile manufacturing is a hot spot for you. In recent years, SUVs have dominated the U.S. automobile market. Industry oracles speculate that China will be the next great revenue boon for automobile giants. Worldwide, the largest automobile manufacturers at the end of 2002, in descending order of sales, were General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota and Volkswagen.
