ABSTRACT
In recent years the auto industry had come to resemble a number of others, being characterised by fast-growing capacity while faced with sluggish growth in worldwide sales. By the early 1950s the European market had become significant and domestic firms as well as the offshoots of the big three American companies, GM, Ford and Chrysler, could all earn satisfactory rates of return. Reports commissioned by US firms have shown that in inventory control, direct labour costs and quality control, the advantages of Japanese plants are such that only a part of their competitiveness can be readily transferred overseas. An alternative to a strategy of simply relying upon greater trade restraints is the ‘captive import’ option, whereby US firms would resume the practice of bringing in, from their overseas affiliates, the models they are unable or reluctant to manufacture themselves. New production techniques have led to the substitution of aluminium, plastics and highly resistant glass for steel in many traditional uses.
