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Automotive Industry Analysis In The Us

AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
Submitted by Team A
Donald Bradley
Morgan Bruns
Adam Fleming
Jay Ling
Lauren Margolin
Felipe Roman
Presented to:
Prof. Alan Flury
December 5, 2005
ME 6753: Principles of Management for Engineers
Team A ii
Executive Summary
Chosen industry:
This analysis focuses on the automotive industry, specifically, large-scale manufacturers of automobiles.
The automotive industry is inherently interesting: it is massive, it is competitive, and it is expected to
undergo major restructuring in the near future due to globalization and decreasing oil reserves. The
analysis team members (we) feel qualified to perform this investigation due to our familiarity with the
industry and our education—several of us have studied and worked on problems associated with
automobile manufacturing and we are all mechanical engineering graduate students.
Analysis Methodology:
The report begins with a historical overview of the automotive industry. This is followed by an analysis
of the industry's structural characteristics using Porter's 5 Forces Model as a framework, which provides
an understanding of the automotive industry as a whole in its current state. Next, ten representative
companies of varying sizes are analyzed and compared; the chosen companies and selection criteria
follow. General Motors, Ford, and Toyota were chosen because they are the current market leaders.
DaimlerChrysler, Nissan, Volkswagen, and Honda were chosen because of their status as stable
international companies who have been in the automobile business for many years. Hyundai, Maruti
Udyog, and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., based in Korea, India, and China, respectively, were
chosen based on their growth potential and their status as relatively new to the industry.
These ten companies are analyzed in terms of their market position, their financial situation, and their
management strategy. Where useful, specific statistics have been incorporated into the...