BRIEFING: Outlook for the automotive industry in 2008

As we enter 2008, there's a sense that this will be an eventful year - both in the world generally and in the automotive industry. The US light vehicle market is widely expected to fall back, and as far as demand goes, Western Europe also seems set for a sluggish year. Once again, 2008 looks set to be a year in which the big emerging markets continue to grab the headlines - and little wonder with China's economy still growing at 10% per annum, and India continuing to show great promise, both as a market in its own right and as a low-cost manufacturing location. In this month's briefing we take a look at the year ahead, with a focus on the North American, European and Japanese markets. We give an overview of the emerging markets India, Russia and China, plus we provide corporate summaries for some of the main vehicle manufacturers.