Restoration and Development of the Automotive Industry in Ukraine: The Initial Conditions

The aim of the study is to analyze the starting conditions for the restoration and development of the automotive industry in Ukraine. Indeed, the automotive industry, as a driver of development for other sectors of the national economy, can significantly contribute to the recovery of the economy in Ukraine even at this moment. It is demonstrated that the development of the automotive industry in Ukraine, as a process, involves the implementation of managed and controlled qualitative and quantitative changes in its sub-sectors at enterprises, while development as a result leads to a qualitatively new state of the industry, creating new opportunities and enabling the capacity to address new challenges and achieve positive outcomes. The characteristic features of the category «development» concerning the automotive industry in Ukraine are provided, the totality of which constitutes an essential characteristic of its development that defines its essence or essential meaning. The analysis of the initial conditions for the restoration and development of the automotive industry in Ukraine was conducted using a structural approach, which allowed for the categorization of types of automotive equipment produced in Ukraine (or the possibility of their production), highlighting those for which it makes economic sense to concentrate attention not only on business but also on state institutions, thereby laying the foundations for the development vector of the industry. The initial conditions were analyzed not only for the traditional sub-sectors of automotive manufacturing in the national economy but also for those trends in the formation of new sub-sectors that have already emerged quite clearly and distinctly: the activation of production of superstructures and special vehicles; the production of new samples of automotive equipment for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; attempts to establish electric vehicle production; and the restoration and development of passenger car production, which dominates the output of the global automotive industry. The results of the completed study may find application in the development of tools for state regulation of the restoration and development of the automotive industry in Ukraine.