MACMILLAN The Automotive Industry and European Integration: The Divergent Paths of Belgium and Spain

Product Description This book chronicles the divergent growth trends in car production in Belgium and Spain. It delves into how European integration, high wages, and the demise of GM and Ford led to plant closings in Belgium.  Next, it investigates how lower wages and the expansion strategies of Western European automakers stimulated expansion in the Spanish auto industry. Finally, it offers three alternate scenarios regarding how further EU expansion and Brexit may potentially reshape the geographic footprint of European car production over the next ten years. In sum, this book utilizes history to help expand the knowledge of scholars and policymakers regarding how European integration and Brexit may impact future auto industry investment for all EU nations. Review “A rich study of car production declining in Belgium and rising in Spain, this book is useful for understanding broader issues about the free movement of capital, goods and labor vexing an expanded European Union now facing contraction.” (Ryan James Tutak, President, Avto Corp.)   From the Back Cover This book chronicles the divergent growth trends in car production in Belgium and Spain. It delves into how European integration, high wages, and the demise of GM and Ford led to plant closings in Belgium.  Next, it investigates how lower wages and the expansion strategies of Western European automakers stimulated expansion in the Spanish auto industry. Finally, it offers three alternate scenarios regarding how further EU expansion and Brexit may potentially reshape the geographic footprint of European car production over the next ten years. In sum, this book utilizes history to help expand the knowledge of scholars and policymakers regarding how European integration and Brexit may impact future auto industry investment for all EU nations. About the Author A.J. Jacobs is in the Department of Sociology at East Carolina University, USA. He is author of Automotive FDI in Emerging Europe and The ‘New Domestic’ Automakers in the U.S. and Canada.