Two Blocs to One Market: The Shift East of Auto Production in Post-Socialist Europe

Abstract

This brief chapter sets the scene for the nation-specific chapters by providing a short synopsis of passenger car production in CE during the Socialist Era (1949–1989). It then provides a chronology of foreign car plant production launches in CE and SEE and a summary of car production data by nation for CE, SEE, and Western Europe. These figures are broken up into two distinct periods: 1989–2001 or Post-Socialist Phase I; and 2001–2015 or Post-Socialist Phase II.