Growth amid a storm: Renault in Spain during the stagflation crisis, 1974-1985

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the trajectory of FASA-Renault during the stagflation crisis. In late 1972, the Spanish government enacted the so-called Ford decrees. The intention was to stimulate specialisation in the European arena by inserting the Spanish subsidiaries within the international strategies of large transnational corporations. In doing so, the effects of the economic crisis were compounded by the restructuring of the sector. The goal is to understand how, in the midst of this situation, FASA-Renault was able to increase production and the size of its workforce, ultimately becoming the leading firm in the sector in terms of production and sales in Spain. This is remarkable, due to the fact that labour force participation in Spain fell by nearly 3 million people from 1974 to 1985. The article argues that FASA-Renault, albeit with nuances, kept its commitment to diversification, neither adopting practices inspired by the production systems of the large Japanese manufacturers nor following the model put forward by the US giants based on large-scale production of a single low- to mid-range car for export.