Abstract
After a decade of relaxed regulations, environmental and safety issues are becoming areas of primary concern to the automobile industry, with potentially significant implications for product development and manufacturing practice. In this paper, an analysis is made of how the leading Japanese automobile makers have been building technological competences to strengthen areas related to environmental considerations, safety, quality and driving comfort. The sample consists of Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Mazda. Japanese patenting data is used to map the technological positions in two dimensions.