Founded in 1993, ARA assists automakers and suppliers enter and compete in the world's fastest growing markets: China, ASEAN and Korea.

ARA has earned a reputation for delivering high quality, timely and accurate market information. ARA operates from offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Bangkok.

This is the story of how Automotive Resources Asia got started.

Growing up around cars in Detroit, Michigan (his father is the renowned car spy photographer Jim Dunne), and around the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Michigan, Michael Dunne dreamed about building his own business in Asia.

After earning an MBA and MA at the University of Michigan, Dunne competed for and won a special university grant to start his own business in Thailand.

In the summer of 1990 he packed one Apple computer, one printer and a suitcase and boarded the 22-hour Northwest flight to Bangkok. On arrival, he discovered an economy in the midst of an unprecedented economic boom. Buildings were going up all across the city and Bangkok's traffic was one huge parking lot.

ARA At-A-Glance

Dunne got his first big break in 1993 when Chrysler hired ARA to execute market entry into Thailand. In order to enter and compete, Chrysler needed ARA’s assistance to persuade the Thai government to change some irregular tax laws.

After 28 months of intense negotiations, the Thai government established a new tax category for 4 wheel drive Jeeps. Overnight, Chrysler became market leader in a country long dominated by the Japanese car makers.

To get ARA moving into the take-off stage of development, Dunne recruited two highly talented people from Detroit. The first to come across the Pacific was John Bonnell, an economist by training, who excelled at market and economic. Next came Dunne's younger brother, Timothy Dunne, an expert on automotive products who had also established an automotive information company in Detroit.

ARA Directors
Michael J. Dunne President	John G. Bonnell Partner	Timothy J. Dunne Partner

It was high times for the economy and for the company through the end of 1996. Then Asia's economic miracle collapsed under its own debt.

The ARA leadership took the economic reversal as an opportunity to reassess business prospects for the future. Clearly, with billions of dollars of new investments in plants, auto makers would shortly transform Asia's emerging countries from sellers’ markets to buyers’ markets.

From the late 1990s to today, ARA has built a unique niche in tracking consumer behavior, projecting demand across country markets and assisting companies to compete in Asia.

In October 2006, ARA became a wholly-owned subsidiary of J.D. Power and Associates.

Today, ARA operates three offices in China and Thailand. Our core services: marketing strategies and business development. For more information about how to advance your competitiveness in Asian car markets, contact us at info@auto-resources-asia.com.