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Notes
1. See, for example, Paul Ingrassia, Crash Course; The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster (Random House, 2010).
2. For more (though not necessarily clearer) information on this, see the “Cars.Com American-Made Index,” http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=top&subject=ami&story=amMade0808. See also Joseph B. White, “What is an American Car? These Days Its Hard to Tell, and That Could Snag the Push to Save Detroit Auto Makers” and the interactive graphic that accompanies the article online (Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2009) http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123265601944607285.html#articleTabs%3Dinteractive.
3. The only people who ever talked about a North American Union are those who desperately and fearfully oppose it.
4. See Stephen Blank and Jerry Haar, Making NAFTA Work; U.S. Firms and the New North American Business Environment (Lynne Rienner for the North-South Center, University of Miami, 1998).
5. Think of the difference in economic impact if a ship with a load of autos from South Korea, for example, was held up for a week, and the economic impact if the Ambassador Bridge was closed down for a week. In the first, perhaps 5,000 autos would arrive late, annoying the purchasers but not disrupting the economy. In the second, hundreds of factories would close their doors and thousands of workers would be out of jobs because parts and components did not arrive on time, with huge regional and perhaps even national economic implications.
6. Thanks to Rob Wildeboar, Executive Chairman, Martinrea International, for permission to use this image and for his encouraging the project.
7. None of the suppliers for this particular assembly is located in Mexico, which makes this component somewhat unusual in the industry. Still, Mexico, as we will see, is a very large player in the North American auto industry.
8. On Ford's mass production system, see David A. Hounshell, From the American System to Mass Production; The Development of Manufacturing Technology in the United States (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), Chapter 6. “The Ford Motor Company and the Rise of Mass Production in America” (pp. 217–261). On Ford's vertical integration, see James M. Rubenstein, Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), Chapter 3. “From Making Parts … ” (56–87).
9. See “History of the Rouge,” The Henry Ford Rouge Factory Tour (www.thehenryford.org/rouge/history.asp)
10. On this shift, see Womack et al., 58–62.
11. See Thomas Klier and James Rubenstein, Who Really Made Your Car; Restructuring and Geographic Change in the Auto Industry (Upjohn Institute 2008).
12. Gary Hufbauer and Jeffrey Schott's NAFTA Revisited: Achievements and Challenges (Institute for International Economics, 2005) is the undisputed gold standard for all things NAFTA. See Chapter 6, The Automotive Sector. See also Sidney Weintraub and Christopher Sands, eds., The North American Auto Industry Under NAFTA (CSIS Press 1998).
13. See Stephen Blank and Barry Prentice, “Canada-US Transportation and Corridor Policies” in Monica Gattinger and Geoffrey Hale, eds, Borders and Bridges; Canada's Policy Relations in North America (Oxford University Press 2010).
14. See Guy Stanley, “Review of Recent Reports on North American Transportation Infrastructure”, North American Transportation Competitiveness Research Council, Working Paper 3 (September 2007) http://natcrc.org.
15. See Stephen Blank, Graham Parsons, Juan Carlos Villa, “Freight Transportation Infrastructure Policies in Canada, Mexico & the US: An Overview and Analysis” North American Transportation Competitiveness Research Council, Research Paper No. 5, March 2008 http://www.portalfornorthamerica.org/teaching-resources/freight-transportation-infrastructure-policies.
16. These numbers come from a presentation by James Rubenstein (“Supply Base—Size and Interdependency”) delivered to a conference on “Competitive Forces Shaping the Auto Industry,” May 10–11, 2010 http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/others/events/2010/automotive_perfect_storm/2010_Detroit_autoconference_Rubenstein.pdf.
17. See also James M. Rubenstein and Thomas H. Klier, “Restructuring of the Auto Industry: Geographic Implications of Outsourcing,” Industry Studies Association, 2009 Annual Conference www.industrystudies.pitt.edu/chicago09/docs/Rubenstein%202.2.pdf.
18. See Thomas H. Klier and James M. Rubenstein, “Imports of Intermediate Parts in the Auto Industry—A Case Study,” prepared for conference on “Measurement Issues Arising from the Growth of Globalization” conference, November 6–7, 2009, in Conference Papers W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, National Academy of Public Administration (August 2010), pp. 217–234 http://www.napawash.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/bea_2010_conference-papers_final.pdf.
19. This is a fairly complicated story that extended over several years and several threatened (and finally completed) closings. There is a fairly complete overview in Martinrea's Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009, 7–11.
20. See Martinrea's website for more information: http://www.martinrea.com/Public/Home.aspx.
24. www.hi-lex.com.
25. www.mfmvs.com.
26. www.mando.com. See also: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=75278 1.
30. Magna came close to purchasing Opel from GM in the summer of 2009.
31. For a sense of the dynamism as well as uncertainty in today's supplier industries, see Grant Thornton, “The North American automotive industry in 2012: Supplier opportunities” (Grant Thornton LLP Corporate Advisory and Restructuring Services) Summer 2009. http://www.grantthornton.com/staticfiles/GTCom/CIP/Automotive/09%20Auto%20Whitepaper.pdf.
32. See Canis and Yacobucci for a good background on the crisis in the US auto industry through 2009.
33. A Special Report on the North American auto industry” from the TD Bank Financial Group sees a new normal level in the US market of 14–15 million units over the next decade, down from the 16–17 million range achieved a few years earlier. (“North American Auto Industry to Bounce Back … But How High?” TD Economics, March 29 2010, 6: http://www.td.com/economics/special/dc0310_auto.pdf.
34. See Michael Hart, “Potholes and Paperwork: Improving Cross-Border Integration and Regulation of the Automotive Industry,” The Border Papers (C.D. Howe Institute Commentary, No. 286, April 2009).
35. See Sidney Weintraub, “Incomes and Productivity in the Auto Industry in North America,” in Weintraub and Sands, eds., The North American Auto Industry Under NAFTA; William Green and Ernest Yanarella, eds., North American Auto Unions in Crisis; Lean Production as Contested Terrain (State University of New York Press 1996); Huberto Juarez Nunez and Steve Babson, eds, Confronting Change; Auto Labor and Lean Production in North America (Wayne State University Press, 1998); and Norman Caulfield, NAFTA and Labor in North America, Chapter 6. The North American Auto Industry; The Apex of Concessionary Bargaining (University of Illinois Press, 2010).