Eastern Europe in the international division of labour of the automotive industry

Abstract

The study is based on international trade data and focuses on the role of Eastern Europe in the global automotive industry. After summarising the results of a literature research about the actual changes in territorial structure and international division of labour within the automotive industry, the study analyses how this region is integrated in the trade of this sector and which geographical structure and product range the regional automotive export shows. The research deals with the processes in the decade after the turn of the Millenium and concentrates on the Visegrad countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) as well as Romania and Slovenia, which play important roles in European investments regarding this industry.

The analysis shows that Eastern Europe became an increasingly important and export-oriented production site of this sector dominated by transnational companies. The automotive industry of the region functions as a part of the European production and consumption system and has intensive connections first of all with Germany. The growing importance of car components in the export structure signifies a deepening of the intra-firm industrial division of labour, which is most typical for the German car industry and for the automotive trade within the region. Eastern Europe – the „backyard” of Germany – moved closer to being an automotive region during the last decade.