One industry that has been significantly affected by globalization is the automotive industry. Originally, automotive manufacturers were vertically integrated and operated in individual countries or regions, exporting completed products to countries without indigenous car industries or with less sophisticated ones. The contemporary car industry has moved to a “design anywhere, make anywhere, sell anywhere” model.
In the 1960s, the "big three" (Ford, GM, and Chrysler) dominated the US car market. The first seismic shift to a more globalized model occurred in the 1970s when Volkswagen and Toyota began to challenge the oligopoly of the big three with inexpensive, fuel-efficient models.
The 1990s saw full globalization of the automotive industry, with US car makers investing in foreign ones and automotive firms building plants across the world. Supply chains also became increasingly globalized.
In the 21st century, the automotive industry has become fully globalized to the point where an "American" car might be designed in Italy, built of Chinese materials and Canadian parts, and assembled in Mexico, and sold by dealerships relying on call centers in the Philippines and IT offices in India.
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