The global structure of the automotive industry: a network-based view

We contribute to the debate on the internationalisation and fragmentation of production in the automotive industry by mapping its global value chain network as of 2020, shedding new light on its structure and explaining it by looking at the processes that have shaped it over the recent decades. Our network includes 3,323 companies connected by 11,182 trade links. Firms are from 60 countries and belong to 135 industries; they generated an average annual sales volume of nearly USD 27 billion between 2018 and 2020. Beyond investigating the overall network structure, we extract the corporate subnetworks of ten prominent carmakers - General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Renault, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, BYD, and Great Wall - and identify their partners' degree of geographical and industrial diversification. While the regional dimension of the industry is essential, we find significant overlaps across many companies' supply chains and a core of large international suppliers.