ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to point out some of the specific factors and trends which are reshaping the structure of the motor components industry and, in particular, their possible locational implications. The company structure of the motor components industry is fragmented. Components are supplied as original equipment for new vehicles and also as replacement parts in the aftermarket. The motor components industry has been subject over years to many significant changes, which still have a long way to run. There are, in any case, limits to what can be achieved internationally by way of direct exports of motor components. There have been a few examples in the UK of the acquisition of local motor components companies by their Japanese counterparts. The main locational issue in the European motor components industry concerns relative shifts in the supply-source pattern between individual European countries.
