Offshoring and Export Performance in the European Automotive Industry

This article investigates the impact of offshoring on the export performances of French, German and Italian automotive firms. It is argued that the different offshoring strategies implemented by the main European car-makers are responsible for the discrepancies in export performances of France, Germany and Italy on the world automotive market. Relying on data from auto parts and components, input–output tables and the foreign content of automotive production, it is found that French, German and Italian car-makers have different offshoring strategies. German automotive firms rely more on the international fragmentation of production, while French and Italian ones offshore their production more intensively. Focusing on French and German export performance, it is shown that the relatively low export performance of France in the automotive industry since the end of the 1990s is mainly the result of an increase in offshoring lead by Renault and PSA to Eastern European Countries, coupled with rising labour costs in the French automotive sector.