The wordautomotive comes from theGreekautos (self), andLatinmotivus (ofmotion), referring to any form of self-powered vehicle. This term, as proposed byElmer Sperry[4][need quotation to verify] (1860–1930), first came into use to describe automobiles in 1898.[5]
The automotive industry began in the 1860s with hundreds of manufacturers pioneering thehorseless carriage. Early car manufacturing involved manual assembly by a human worker. The process evolved from engineers working on a stationary car to a conveyor belt system where the car passed through multiple stations of more specialized engineers. In the 1960s, robotic equipment was introduced, and most cars are now mainly assembled by automated machinery.[6]
For many decades, theUnited States led the world in total automobile production, with the U.S.Big ThreeGeneral Motors,Ford Motor Company, andChrysler being the world's three largest auto manufacturers for a time, and G.M. and Ford remaining the two largest until the mid-2000s. In 1929, before theGreat Depression, the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, of which the U.S. automobile enterprises produced more than 90%. At that time, the U.S. had one car per 4.87 persons.[7] After 1945, the U.S. produced around three-quarters of the world's auto production. In 1980, the U.S. was overtaken byJapan and then became a world leader again in 1994. Japan narrowly passed the U.S. in production during 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 alsoChina, which in 2009 took the top spot (from Japan) with 13.8 million units, although the U.S. surpassed Japan in 2011, to become the second-largest automobile industry. In 2023, China had more than 30 million produced vehicles a year for the first time in history, after reaching 29 million for the first time in 2017 and 28 million the year before. From 1970 (140 models) to 1998 (260 models) to 2012 (684 models), the number of automobile models in the U.S. has grown exponentially.[8]
Safety is a state that implies being protected from any risk, danger, damage, or cause of injury. In the automotive industry, safety means that users, operators, ormanufacturers do not face any risk or danger coming from the motor vehicle or its spare parts. Safety for the automobiles themselves implies that there is no risk of damage.
Safety in the automotive industry is particularly important and therefore highly regulated.Automobiles and othermotor vehicles have to comply with a certain number of regulations, whether local or international, in order to be accepted on the market. The standardISO 26262, is considered one of the best practice frameworks for achieving automotivefunctional safety.[9]
In case of safety issues, danger,product defect,[10][11] or faulty procedure during the manufacturing of the motor vehicle, the maker can request to return either a batch or the entire production run. This procedure is calledproduct recall. Product recalls happen in every industry and can be production-related or stem from raw materials.
Product and operation tests and inspections at different stages of thevalue chain are made to avoid these product recalls by ensuring end-user security and safety and compliance with the automotive industry requirements. However, the automotive industry is still particularly concerned about product recalls, which cause considerable financial consequences.
In 2007, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road, consuming over 980 billion litres (980,000,000 m3) ofgasoline anddiesel fuel yearly.[12] The automobile is a primary mode oftransportation for many developed economies. The Detroit branch ofBoston Consulting Group predicted that, by 2014, one-third of world demand would be in the fourBRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). Meanwhile, in developed countries, the automotive industry has slowed.[13] It is also expected that this trend will continue, especially as the younger generations of people (in highly urbanized countries) no longer want to own a car, and prefer other modes of transport.[14] Other potentially powerful automotive markets areIran andIndonesia.[15]Emerging automobile markets already buy more cars than established markets.
According to a J.D. Power study, emerging markets accounted for 51 percent of the globallight-vehicle sales in 2010. The study, performed in 2010 expected this trend to accelerate.[16][17] However, more recent reports (2012) confirmed the opposite; namely that the automotive industry was slowing down even in BRIC countries.[13] In the United States, vehicle sales peaked in 2000, at 17.8 million units.[18]
In July 2021, the European Commission released its "Fit for 55" legislation package,[19] which contains important guidelines for the future of the automotive industry; all new cars on the European market must bezero-emission vehicles from 2035.[20]
The governments of 24 developed countries and a group of major car manufacturers includingGM,Ford,Volvo,BYD Auto,Jaguar Land Rover andMercedes-Benz committed to "work towards all sales of new cars and vans being zero emission globally by 2040, and by no later than 2035 in leading markets".[21][22] Major car manufacturing nations like the United States, Germany, China, Japan and South Korea, as well asVolkswagen,Toyota,Peugeot,Honda,Nissan andHyundai, did not pledge.[23]
Trucks' share of US vehicles produced, has tripled since 1975. Though vehicle fuel efficiency has increased within each category, the overall trend toward less efficient types of vehicles has offset some of the benefits of greater fuel economy and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.[24] Without the shift towards SUVs, energy use per unit distance could have fallen 30% more than it did from 2010 to 2022.[25]
The global automotive industry is a major consumer of water. Some estimates surpass 180,000 L (39,000 imp gal) of water per car manufactured, depending on whether tyre production is included. Production processes that use a significant volume of water include surface treatment, painting, coating, washing, cooling, air-conditioning, and boilers, not counting component manufacturing. Paintshop operations consume especially large amounts of water because equipment running on water-based products must also be cleaned with water.[26]
In 2022, Tesla'sGigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg ran into legal challenges due to droughts and falling groundwater levels in the region. Brandenburg's Economy Minister Joerg Steinbach said that while water supply was sufficient during the first stage, more would be needed once Tesla expands the site. The factory would nearly double the water consumption in the Gruenheide area, with 1.4 million cubic meters being contracted from local authorities per year — enough for a city of around 40,000 people. Steinbach said that the authorities would like to drill for more water there and outsource any additional supply if necessary.[27]
To 1950: US had produced more than 80% of motor vehicles.[29]
1950s: United Kingdom, Germany, and France restarted production.
1960s: Japan started expanding production and increased volume through the 1980s.United States, Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom produced about 80% of motor vehicles through the 1980s.
1990s: South Korea became a volume producer. In 2004, Korea became No. 5 passing France.
2000s: China increased its production drastically, and became the world's largest-producing country in 2009.
2010s: India overtakes Korea, Canada, Spain to become 5th largest automobile producer.
2013: The share of China (25.4%), India, Korea, Brazil, and Mexico rose to 43%, while the share of United States (12.7%), Japan, Germany, France, and United Kingdom fell to 34%.
2018: India overtakes Germany to become 4th largest automobile producer.
TheOICA counts over 50 countries that assemble, manufacture, or disseminate automobiles. Of those, only 15 countries (boldfaced in the list below) currently possess the capability to design original production automobiles from the ground up, and 17 countries (listed below) have at least one million produced vehicles a year (as of 2023).[56]
These were the ten largest manufacturers by production volume as of 2017,[58] of which the eight largest were in the top 8 positions sinceFiat's 2013 acquisition of theChrysler Corporation (although thePSA Group had been in the top 8 1999 to 2012, and 2007 to 2012 one of the eight largest along with the seven largest as of 2017) and the five largest in the top 5 positions since 2007, according to OICA, which, however, stopped publishing statistics of motor vehicle production by manufacturer after 2017. All ten remained as the ten largest automakers by sales untilthe merger between Fiat-Chrysler and the PSA Group in early 2021; onlyRenault was degraded to 11th place, in 2022, when being surpassed by bothBMW (which became the 10th largest in 2021) andChang'an.[59]
These were the twenty largest manufacturers by production volume in 2012 and 2013, or the 21 largest in 2011 (beforethe Fiat-Chrysler merger), of which the fourteen largest as of 2011 were in the top 14 in 2010, 2008 and 2007 (but not 2009, when Changan and Mazda temporarily degraded Chrysler to 16th place). The eighteen largest as of 2013 have remained in the top 20 as of 2017, except Mitsubishi which fell out of top 20 in 2016, while Geely fell out of the top 20 in 2014 and 2015 but re-entered it in 2016.
This section needs to beupdated. The reason given is: several of these have changed. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2024)
It is common for automobile manufacturers to hold stakes in other automobile manufacturers. These ownerships can be explored under the detail for the individual companies.
Mercedes-Benz Group holds a 3.1% stake in theRenault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, while Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance holds a 3.1% stake in Mercedes-Benz Group.
Mercedes-Benz Group holds a 12% stake inBAIC Group, while BAIC Group holds 5% stake in Mercedes-Benz Group.[65]
Fujian Motors Group holds a 15% stake inKing Long. FMG, Beijing Automotive Group,China Motor, and Mercedes-Benz Group has a joint venture calledFujian Benz. FMG, China Motor, and Mitsubishi Motors has a joint venture calledSoueast, FMG holds a 50% stake, and both China Motor and Mitsubishi Motors holds an equal 25% stake.
Nissan holds a 34% stake inMitsubishi Motors since October 2016,[68] thus having the right to nominate the chairman of Mitsubishi Motors' board and a third of its directors.
Porsche holds a 50.74% voting stake inVolkswagen Group. The Porsche automotive business is fully owned by the Volkswagen Group.
Renault andNissan have an alliance (Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance) involving two global companies linked by cross-shareholding, with Renault holding a 43.4% stake in Nissan shares, and Nissan holding a 15% stake of (non-voting) Renault shares.
Volkswagen Group holds a 37.73% stake inScania (68.6% voting rights), a 53.7% stake inMAN SE (55.9% voting rights). Volkswagen is integrating Scania, MAN, and its own truck division into one division.
Beijing Automotive Group also has a joint venture withHyundai calledBeijing Hyundai, both companies hold a 50-50% stake.
BMW andBrilliance have a joint venture calledBMW Brilliance. BMW owns a 50% stake, Brilliance owns a 40.5% stake, and the Shenyang municipal government owns a 9.5% stake.
^OICA lists SAIC-GM-Wuling combined with G.M. until 2014 but separately from 2015. Including SAIC-GM-Wuling, G.M. would still be larger than Hyundai until 2020.
^Fiat acquired Chrysler in 2012. However, Fiat and Chrysler was still listed separately by OICA in 2012, and combined first from 2013. Separately, the production by Fiat was 2,127,295 and by Chrysler 2,371,427.
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