1. Introduction

This chapter lays out the general framework of the book. It opens with a review of China’s rapid rise in the world automobile industry over the last three decades, and then focuses on the significant variations among Chinese car manufacturers as regards production organization. Four production models are distinguished by ownership structure and technological strategy, and a research question accounting for the developmental variety of Chinese car assemblers is suggested. Various theories are examined through a review of the literature and an institutional perspective is proposed as the explanation, arguing that national economic positioning, a historical arrangement of the Chinese central government under the planned economy, has led Chinese carmakers along different pathways and caused the variety in the organization of automobile production. The rationale for the case selection is introduced at the end, with a brief synopsis of following chapters.