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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Manufacturing industries > Road vehicle manufacturing industry
Over the past two decades, society has been witnessing how
technological, political, and societal changes have been
transforming individual and collective urban mobility. Driven both
by newcomers and traditional players, by disruptive as well as
incremental innovations, the main objective now is to enhance
mobility and accessibility while, reducing vehicle ownership,
congestion, road accidents, and pollution in cities. This
transformation has been mainly enabled by the widespread adoption
of internet-connected devices (e.g.: smartphones and tablets) and
by the innovative business models, technologies, and use-cases that
arose from this rapid digitalization, such as peer-to-peer, and
two-sided markets providing several mobility schemes: car-sharing,
car-pooling, bike sharing, free-floating (cars, bikes, electric
scooter), ridesharing and ride hailing either for long distances as
well as for urban and micro-mobility. The book presents - in a
holistic perspective - how this revolution is happening and what
are the major cornerstones for the implementation of robomobility.
It aims at answering several substantial issues, such as: What is
robomobility and what does it imply for the different stakeholders
of the public transport ecosystem? How do policy makers integrate
this innovation and how ready the regulations are? How do citizens
take part in this transformation? What is the level of user
acceptance for this new type of mobility? What are its
environmental impacts? What is the economic impact of deploying
these shuttles in a local ecosystem?
The advent of mobility-as-a-service and the disruption of the
automotive industry are both overlapping and fuelled by the same
developments and thus raise a very fundamental question: are we at
peak car? Based on the author's extensive field research, academic
study, and professional experience, this book explores this very
question as well as the underlying social, economic, generational,
and regulatory changes that lead to a new mobility regime. Through
rich descriptions of established OEMs and mobility start-ups, it
discusses the current forms of mobility and the promise of
autonomous technology. It further explores the strategic dimension
of these developments so as to navigate and succeed within the
disruptive and ever-changing environment of mobility services.
This book offers a unique perspective within the luxury automobile
industry in which the author, a Ferrari dealer, recounts a lifetime
with the iconic car brand. Chapters detail a wide range of
experiences, like a nonstop drive in a 308GTB from Chicago to
Boston; rides with important figures like Piero Ferrari and Dario
Benuzzi; and a visit to the Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini
factories at Maranello. This book follows one man's
all-encompassing journey with Ferraris. First a fan, then a
salesman and a dealer, the author offers numerous insights into the
life cycle of a Ferrari, from production to sales.
Jewels in the Crown provides an analysis of Tata's acquisition of
Jaguar and Land Rover in 2008, and subsequent transformation of
their fortunes, written by an award-winning motoring writer. Ray
Hutton goes behind the scenes to examine how Tata have not only
returned the business to profit, but also transformed the public
image of these long-established British brands. At the time of the
takeover, both brands (once the crown jewels of the British motor
industry) had been tarnished by a patchy reputation for quality and
reliability. Tata bought a new approach to the business, with fast
decision-making and a solid, sustainable, long-term strategy.
Factory efficiency was improved and a major export drive
accompanied by a succession of carefully-positioned new models,
from the Jaguar XJ Saloon and F-Type sports car to the Evoque and
the new, lighter but more luxurious Range Rover flagship. The
result was a remarkable change of fortunes. This book shows how it
was done.
This edited open access book gives a comprehensive overview of
small and lightweight electric three- and four-wheel vehicles with
an international scope. The present status of small electric
vehicle (SEV) technologies, the market situation and main hindering
factors for market success as well as options to attain a higher
market share including new mobility concepts are highlighted. An
increased usage of SEVs can have different impacts which are
highlighted in the book in regard to sustainable transport,
congestion, electric grid and transport-related potentials. To
underline the effects these vehicles can have in urban areas or
rural areas, several case studies are presented covering outcomes
of pilot projects and studies in Europe. A study of the operation
and usage in the Global South extends the scope to a global scale.
Furthermore, several concept studies and vehicle concepts on the
market give a more detailed overview and show the deployment in
different applications.
Lavishly illustrated with unique images from the official company
archive, this book charts more than 100 years of car-making at the
Longbridge factory, near Birmingham. Herbert Austin founded the
Austin Motor Company here in April 1905 and it was subsequently
home to the British Motor Corporation, British Leyland, Rover Group
and, latterly, MG Rover. Its products include some of the most
famous British models ever produced, such as the pioneering Austin
Seven, the innovative trend-setting Mini, the popular Austin Metro
and, in later years, the best-selling MG TF and elegant Rover 75.
The factory was a major employer and an integral part of the local
community from its beginnings until the sad events of April 2005,
when MG Rover went into administration. This radically changed the
landscape, spearheading the long-term regeneration of the area. The
community is looking to the future with confidence, never
forgetting its long and proud tradition of manufacturing. This
fully updated version honours the 110th anniversary of the first
motor production at Longbridge as well as the 150th birthday of
Herbert Austin. It includes a new colour section showing various
stages in the life of a car, from the design studio to the
showroom.
It is a bedrock American belief: the 1950s were a golden age of
prosperity for autoworkers. Flush with high wages and enjoying the
benefits of generous union contracts, these workers became the
backbone of a thriving blue-collar middle class. It is also a myth.
Daniel J. Clark began by interviewing dozens of former autoworkers
in the Detroit area and found a different story--one of economic
insecurity caused by frequent layoffs, unrealized contract
provisions, and indispensable second jobs. Disruption in Detroit is
a vivid portrait of workers and an industry that experienced
anything but stable prosperity. As Clark reveals, the
myths--whether of rising incomes or hard-nosed union bargaining
success--came later. In the 1950s, ordinary autoworkers, union
leaders, and auto company executives recognized that although jobs
in their industry paid high wages, they were far from steady and
often impossible to find.
THE INSIDE STORY OF THE EPIC TURNAROUND OF FORD MOTOR COMPANY UNDER
THE LEADERSHIP OF CEO ALAN MULALLY. At the end of 2008, Ford Motor
Company was just months away from running out of cash. With the
auto industry careening toward ruin, Congress offered all three
Detroit automakers a bailout. General Motors and Chrysler grabbed
the taxpayer lifeline, but Ford decided to save itself. Under the
leadership of charismatic CEO Alan Mulally, Ford had already put
together a bold plan to unify its divided global operations,
transform its lackluster product lineup, and overcome a
dys-functional culture of infighting, backstabbing, and excuses. It
was an extraordinary risk, but it was the only way the Ford
family--America's last great industrial dynasty--could hold on to
their company. Mulally and his team pulled off one of the great-est
comebacks in business history. As the rest of Detroit collapsed,
Ford went from the brink of bankruptcy to being the most profitable
automaker in the world. "American Icon" is the compelling,
behind-the-scenes account of that epic turnaround. On the verge of
collapse, Ford went outside the auto industry and recruited
Mulally--the man who had already saved Boeing from the deathblow of
9/11--to lead a sweeping restructuring of a company that had been
unable to overcome decades of mismanage-ment and denial. Mulally
applied the principles he developed at Boeing to streamline Ford's
inefficient operations, force its fractious executives to work
together as a team, and spark a product renaissance in Dearborn. He
also convinced the United Auto Workers to join his fight for the
soul of American manufacturing. Bryce Hoffman reveals the untold
story of the covert meetings with UAW leaders that led to a
game-changing contract, Bill Ford's battle to hold the Ford family
together when many were ready to cash in their stock and write off
the company, and the secret alliance with Toyota and Honda that
helped prop up the Amer-ican automotive supply base. In one of the
great management narratives of our time, Hoffman puts the reader
inside the boardroom as Mulally uses his celebrated Business Plan
Review meet-ings to drive change and force Ford to deal with the
painful realities of the American auto industry. Hoffman was
granted unprecedented access to Ford's top executives and
top-secret company documents. He spent countless hours with Alan
Mulally, Bill Ford, the Ford family, former executives, labor
leaders, and company directors. In the bestselling tradition of Too
Big to Fail and The Big Short, American Icon is narrative
nonfiction at its vivid and colorful best.
As it spreads its tendrils across the globe, one of Neoliberalism's
most important policy demands has been labour flexibilisation coded
language for tearing up collective bargaining agreements and
dismantling trade unions. In this well researched and insightful
study, Santella focuses on the auto industry in Argentina between
1990 and 2007 to draw out how workers have resisted these changes.
Since the revolution of 1979, scholars have portrayed the Islamic
State's industrial development capacity in a negative light. Global
isolation, incoherent economic planning, and predatory Islamic
institutions are often cited as the reasons for lackluster
development. In Iran Auto: Building a Global Industry in an Islamic
State, Darius Mehri shows how this characterization is misguided.
Today, Iran has one of the world's largest automobile industries
with national technical capacity. Previous studies ignore the
consequences of three decades of Iran's capacity for successful
industrialization and changes in global technology transfer that
allow countries, even ones isolated from formal global
institutions, to build an automobile industry. Mehri shows how
industrial nationalists in Iran constructed a network of
politically effective relationships to open up space for successful
local industrial development, and then tapped into a set of
important global linkages to create an industry with high local
manufacturing content. This book will open up a new line of inquiry
into how countries in the global south can develop a successful
national automobile industry without the need to conform to global
economic institutions.
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