When Mercedes-Benz announced in 1993 that it would be opening a plant in Alabama, it was a milestone. The industry faced decline and consolidation in the 1930s because of the Great Depression During the Second World War , the Canadian sector gave itself over to wartime production, and few non-military vehicles were produced. Perhaps the most pressing hurdle for the industry is the need to meet increasingly restrictive emissions and fuel-consumption requirements in the Western world.
By 1929 the Big Three supplied three-fourths of the American market for motor vehicles; most of the remainder was divided among the five largest independents—Hudson, Nash, Packard, Studebaker, and Willys-Overland. Actually, Apple’s low expectations” at the time were seen as quite ambitious, such was the state of the Smart Phone market.
Heavy industry and complex discrete manufacturers are part of multifaceted, fast-moving supply chains in an increasingly global and competitive environment. The European auto …