The Automobile Industry: Makers, Money, and the Electric Turn
The largest manufacturing industry on earth as a system, as of October 2026: who builds the world's 96 million vehicles and where they go; how a car is designed, built, and supplied, and why one missing part can stop a line; why carmakers earn so little; how China came to lead the electric car; Europe's squeeze and America's market; Japan, Korea, India, and the emerging markets; the electric transition; tariffs and the walls against Chinese cars; the rules on emissions, fuel economy, and safety; software and the driverless car; and what a car costs to buy and own. Where the field argues, each side's case comes before the course's reading.** **