Cbu Completely Built Up

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A common form of knock-down is a complete knock-down (CKD), which is a kit of entirely unassembled parts of a product. It is also a method of supplying parts to a market, particularly in shipping to foreign nations, and serves as a way of counting or pricing.[1] CKD is a common practice in the automotive, bus, heavy truck, and rail vehicle industries, as well as electronics, furniture and other products. Businesses sell knocked-down kits to their foreign affiliates or licensees for various reasons, including the avoidance of import taxes, to receive tax preferences for providing local manufacturing jobs, or even to be considered as a bidder at all (for example, in public transport projects with "buy national" rules).

Technically, the terms "knock-down", "incompletely disassembled kit", and "kits of parts" are all misnomers because the knock-downs were never built up in the first place. The parts shipments are often not in the form of kits,[1] but rather bulk-packed by type of part into shipping containers. The degree of "knock-down" depends on the desires and technical abilities of the receiving organization or government import regulations.[1] Developing nations may pursue trade and economic policies that call for import substitution or local content regulations. Companies with CKD operations help the country substitute the finished products it imports with locally assembled substitutes.

Knock-down kit assembly plants are less expensive to establish and maintain because they do not need modern robotic equipment, and the workforce may be less costly than in the country of origin. The plants may also be effective for low-volume production. The CKD concept allows firms in developing markets to gain expertise in a particular industry. At the same time, the CKD kit exporting company gains new markets that would otherwise be closed.[2]

In the automotive industry, the most basic form of a vehicle in the KD kit lacks the wheels, internal combustion engine, transmission, and battery.[citation needed] They are either supplied as parts for assembly (a "complete" kit) or obtained from third parties (an "incomplete" kit); all of the interiors are already installed at the originating factory. The term SKD for semi-knocked-down refers to a kit with a complete, welded car body, usually coated or already painted. To gain extra tax preferences, the manufacturer needs to "localize" the car further, i.e., increase the share of parts produced by local manufacturers, such as tires, wheels, seats, headlights, windscreens and glass, batteries, interior plastics, etc., even down to the engine and transmission. At some point, the steel body could be pressed, welded, and painted locally, effectively making KD assembly only a few steps away from full-scale production.

By the time Henry Ford co-wrote his 1922 memoir, My Life and Work, the Ford Motor Company was already shipping car parts from its Michigan plants for final assembly in the regions of the United States or foreign countries where the cars would be sold.[3]

During World War II, a significant number of US- and Canadian-built vehicles, most notably light and heavy trucks like Willys MB/Ford GPW/GPA, GMC-353/CCKW, and vehicles from the CMP family, were crated and shipped overseas in KD form, in various degrees of completeness, to Allied countries to sustain their war effort. Assembly lines were preferably set up in local automotive factories where appropriate tooling and equipment could be easily found, but, where needed, other types of buildings could be used, especially in on-the-field situations, and on occasion, even open-air rebuilding camps were set up, managed by military personnel. Owing to male mobilization, sometimes a female workforce was employed. CKD military vehicles could be stored for shipment in one-vehicle-per-crate form (or SUP, Single Unit Pack), or as several vehicles (usually two to three) divided in two or more crates. Vehicles shipped to certain countries could be lacking some items, such as cabs, beds, or tires, that were built and provided locally.[4][5]

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited in India began its business in 1947 with assembling CKD Jeeps. Mahindra expanded its operations to include domestic manufacture of Jeep vehicles with a high level of local content under license from Kaiser Jeep Corporation and later American Motors Corporation (AMC).

In 1961, Renault began negotiations for a first partnership agreement with AMC to assemble Rambler automobiles in Europe.[6] Beginning in 1962, and continuing until 1967, AMC also sold CKD kits of its passenger cars to Renault. They were assembled in Renault's factory in Haren, Belgium, and sold through its dealers in Algeria, Austria, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The deal allowed AMC to sell its cars in new markets without significant foreign direct investment (FDI). The arrangement benefited the French automaker because its product range lacked large-sized cars, and it needed to offer an "executive" model for its European markets.[7] The situation changed by 1977. By this time, AMC sought outside support for a new car in the sub-compact market segment, which led to the first of many agreements with Renault.

In 1967, Rootes Group UK began exporting CKD Hillman Hunters to Iran where they were sold as the Paykan (meaning "arrow" in Persian). Bought by Chrysler in 1967 and then part of the sale to the PSA Group by the Chrysler Corporation of its European operations in late 1978, the Rootes business basis in Iran became the primer for the very significant PSA Peugeot Citron business in Iran involving engine and CKD deliveries, particularly from the 405, introduced in 1990 and facelifted as the Pars in 1999 and 206 introduced in 2001.[8] In 2004, Peugeot's partner Iran Khodro produced 281'000 Peugeot vehicles, securing a 36% market share.

In 1967 as well, Peugeot introduced CKD-based production of a light pick-up vehicle based on the Peugeot 403 in Peugeot's Berazategui factory (in Buenos Aires) under the name Peugeot 4TB.[9] In 1973, this model was replaced by the 404 pick-up and later (1990) by the 504 pick-up. The 404 and 504 were massively marketed worldwide through local CKD assembly shops: the 404 was assembled, besides France and Argentina, in Australia, Belgium, Canada (at the SOMA plant shared with Renault), Chile, Ireland, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Portugal, Per, Rhodesia, South Africa, and Uruguay;[10] the 504, mainly in Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, South-Africa, Australia, and China by the Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile Company which developed a specific crew cab version.

In 1968, the independent German automotive firm, Karmann, began assembly of CKD kits of AMC's newly introduced Javelin for distribution in Europe. American Motors also provided right-hand drive versions of their automobiles to markets such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The components were shipped in containers to Australia from AMC's plants in Kenosha, Wisconsin, or Brampton, Ontario. Assembly of Rambler and AMC vehicles in Australia was done by Australian Motor Industries (AMI) in Port Melbourne, Victoria. Local content requirements were met by using Australian suppliers for the interiors (seats, carpeting, etc.) as well as for lights, heaters, and other components. Various Rambler models were assembled in New Zealand from the early 1960s until 1971 by Campbell Motors in Thames (later Toyota New Zealand), which had also built Toyota, Datsun (later known as Nissan), Hino, Renault, and Peugeot cars.

New Zealand had developed a car assembly industry [11] as a means of import substitution and providing local employment, despite the small size of the local market. Following economic reforms in the 1980s, including the lowering of import tariffs, and the ability to import Australian-built vehicles duty-free under the CER agreement, many car companies ended assembly in New Zealand. They switched to importing completely built-up vehicles from Japan, Australia, or Europe. More significantly, the easing of import restrictions led to many used imports, because they were less expensive than locally assembled used cars, and outsold the 'NZ New' vehicles. The last companies to construct CKD kits in New Zealand were Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Honda, which closed their plants in 1998 when the government announced plans to abolish import tariffs on cars.

Other examples include Ukraine, which has almost prohibitive import taxes on finished cars. AutoZAZ assembles CKD kits of some Lada, Opel, Mercedes-Benz, and Daewoo cars.[12] It went as far as adopting a version of Daewoo Lanos for full-scale production and equipping it with a domestic engine. The German automotive giant Volkswagen Group also produces SKDs in Ukraine at its Solomonovo plant, producing cars under its Škoda and Volkswagen Passenger Cars marques.

In Russia, KD assembling facilities are owned by Avtotor,[citation needed] which produced Hummer H2, BMW 3 Series, and BMW 5 Series in Kaliningrad, and Renault Logan in Moscow using facilities that once belonged to AZLK. In Kaluga, Volkswagen Group had a plant that was expected to have an annual output of 150,000 units.[13]

In 2009, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited announced that it would export pickup trucks powered by diesel engines from India to the United States in knockdown kit (CKD) form, again to circumvent the chicken tax.[14] Mahindra planned to export CKDs to the United States as complete vehicles that will be assembled in the United States from kits of parts shipped in crates.[14] However, Mahindra's United States CKD and export plans never materialized and were subject to several lawsuits.

In 2013, Tesla started operating an assembly plant in Tilburg, the Netherlands.[15] It is used for the assembly of their Model S sedan and Model X SUV for the European Union, but not all of Europe since only cars imported to the EU benefit from circumventing the 10% import duty[16] (e.g. cars to Norway are shipped directly from the United States). For the most part, the car is still manufactured in the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California. During the final assembly in the Netherlands, various parts are added to the car, most notably the rear subframe with the drive train as well as the battery pack.[17]

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