The automotive industry is undergoing fundamental organizational changes related to the transition from the production of internal-combustion-engine vehicles towards the production of low- or no-emission powertrain technologies. In addition, the ongoing transformations in this sector are shaped by the dramatically changing geopolitical context – including the increasing technological rivalry between China and the West.

In response, this edited volume offers an in-depth examination of the automotive industry, with emphasis on the ongoing transformations in the international divisions of labour, the regional and national production models, and the established value-chain relations. Collecting contributions from established and emerging scholars from a range of disciplinary perspectives, the book brings together empirical research on different regions relevant for the changing globalized production system of the automotive sector – including the European Union, East Asia, and North America.

Martin Krzywdzinski is Professor of International Labor Relations at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg, Germany.

Grzegorz Lechowski is researcher at the Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg and the WZB Social Sciences Center Berlin (Germany).

John Humphrey is an Honorary Visiting Professor at the Sussex Business School, UK.

Tommaso Pardi is a sociologist, senior researcher at the IDHES (CNRS and Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris-Saclay), France.