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CHINA SHIFTS GEARS: Automakers, Oil, Pollution, and Development. By Kelly Sims Gallagher. Cambridge (MA): MIT Press, 2006. x, 219pp. (Figures, tables, photos.) US$21.00, paper. ISBN 978-0-262-57232-3.
Shifting Gears by Kelly Sims Gallagher examines the rise of the automobile in China over the past 50 years, with a focus on the development and adoption of cleaner and more efficient automotive technologies, the complex interplay between global and domestic firms, and the potential for China to use technology transfer to leapfrog to more advanced technologies. case studies evaluate the international technical transfer from US firms to their Chinese joint venture partners-Beijing Jeep, Shanghai GM and ChangAn Ford-over the period 1984 to 2002. Overall, the volume is quite thoughtful, but there are a few readily identifiable gaps in the analysis.
After a late start, the Chinese auto industry has advanced at a meteoric pace. In 1963, shortly after the Sino-Soviet split, total production consisted of just eleven cars. Twenty years later, following the Cultural Revolution, annual output was still below 10,000 units. Currently, China ranks second behind the US in overall production, mostly through joint ventures, although domestic firms are...