Did you know, the word automotive was coined from Greek autos (self) and Latin Motivus (of motion) to refer to any form of self powered vehicle.
Most importantly the automotive industry began in the 1860’s with hundreds of manufacturers that pioneered the horseless carriage.
By 1929, before the Great Depression, the word had 32 028 500 automobiles in use and the US automobile industry produced over 90% of them. After World War 2, the US produced about 75% of world’s auto production. Subsequently from 1980 the US was overtaken by Japan who then became world’s leader again in 1994. In 2006 Japan narrowly passed the US in production and held this rank until 2009 when China took the top spot with 13.8 million units. With 19.3 million units manufactured in 2012.
In 2017 China lead the way with 29 million units, the USA with 11 million units, Japan 9 million units, Germany 6 million and India with 5 million units.
As of 1970 (140 Models) through 1998 (260 models) till 2012 (684 models) you can see the number of automobile models in the US has grown exponentially.
Amazingly Toyota is still the top manufacturer with 10.2 million units, followed Volkswagen Group with 10.1 million units and Hyundai with 7.8 million units. Renault in position no 9 with3.3 million units and BMW in position no 14 with 2.3 million units.
In 1997 a total of 54 million units were produced world wide and in 2017 a total of 95 million units.
In 2007 a total of 806 million vehicles were on the road using 980 billion litres of fuel. The number increased to 1.4 billion in 2018 and will reach 2 billion in 2035.
