INTRODUCTION Manufacturing is vital to developing countries as an engine of growth and employment. As the country matures as a manufacturing powerhouse, it will also drive innovation, trade and productivity for people. The two forces that will influence manufacturing over the next decade will be demand and innovations in product design. The question is obviously the shift towards developing economies. Consumption in developing economies could account for nearly 70% of global demand for manufacturing products. From an innovation perspective, using the latest technology, product designers collect billions of bytes of data collected from social media to understand the required product and technology. China's emergence in the manufacturing sector certainly has a major impact on industrialized economies. If anything, market expansion of developing countries is seen as an opportunity rather than a treat for developed countries. Domestic market consumption in developed countries is expected to decline with saturation, and companies are exploring market access opportunities in developing countries. In this environment, manufacturing companies are constantly rethinking their localization strategies to be competitive in the global market. The localization strategy not only considers the path to lower wages but many other important factors such as highly skilled workforce and market access. The study by service organization shows that 15% of North American companies and 29% of European companies do not produce their products in domestic markets [5]. Companies increasingly look to the entire world as their market in which the flows of goods, capital and information are increasing. Automotive manufacturing is the most suitable sector to analyze global manufacturing strategies....... middle of paper ...... ibility. Based on data collection, the improvement activity for Indian and Thai automotive manufacturers is total quality management and Just-In-Time (JIT), respectively, which align with their top competitive priority. Both domestic auto manufacturers have prioritized the factors needed to improve compete in the competitive global market to sustain and grow their respective automotive manufacturing industry. Indian companies place a high priority on quality management, while Thai manufacturers emphasize delivery aspects. Both manufacturers place less priority on flexibility, in direct contrast to industrialized countries where flexibility is given the highest priority. Although India is known for its high technological capabilities, it has not used the ability to expand its automotive industry to capitalize on global market opportunities.