The Detroit Three buy higher-value technology as North American purchasing climate in 2011 improves

Long-suffering US suppliers are benefiting from the trend

THE North American auto industry is rebounding this year, although not without a certain number of fits and starts as it goes through the long, difficult process of "normalising" after the two-year crisis. As revenue plunged during the recession, nearly every major North American supplier was in the same boat in difficult conditions. Then most suppliers were caught in the same updraft beginning late last summer as vehicle production began to rise. But with a degree of normalisation back in the auto industry it is becoming more obvious which companies have come out of the morass in strong positions and which have been seriously weakened. And no longer is every supplier in the same boat.