SPATIAL EFFECTS OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE SPANISH AUTOMOBILE-INDUSTRY

The authors investigate the spatial evolution of automobile production in Spain in the post-war period, in relation to a typology of changin g regional specialization. The article describes how successive rounds of investments have transformed the traditional pattern of specializa tion into a configuration determined by the production and network str ategies of foreign investors. The spatial outcome of this process may be attributed, to some extent, to specific locational strategies pursu ed by the foreign investors; there is also a high incidence, however, of defacto spatial changes, resulting from foreign acquisitions of loc al firms. As a result, internationalization has made the local product ion structure more aligned with, but also highly dependent on, the eco nomic core areas of Europe.