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The automotive manufacturing industry generated approximately 2.52 trillion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2022, a decrease from 2021. However, this market size is expected to grow in 2023. While...
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- Overview
- History
- Developments before World War I
- Mass production
automotive industry, all those companies and activities involved in the manufacture of motor vehicles, including most components, such as engines and bodies, but excluding tires, batteries, and fuel. The industry’s principal products are passenger automobiles and light trucks, including pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles. Commercial vehicles (i.e., delivery trucks and large transport trucks, often called semis), though important to the industry, are secondary. The design of modern automotive vehicles is discussed in the articles automobile, truck, bus, and motorcycle; automotive engines are described in gasoline engine and diesel engine. The development of the automobile is covered in transportation, history of: The rise of the automobile.
(Read Lee Iacocca’s Britannica entry on Chrysler.)
The history of the automobile industry, though brief compared with that of many other industries, has exceptional interest because of its effects on history from the 20th century. Although the automobile originated in Europe in the late 19th century, the United States completely dominated the world industry for the first half of the 20th century through the invention of mass production techniques. In the second half of the century the situation altered sharply as western European countries and Japan became major producers and exporters.
(Read Henry Ford’s 1926 Britannica essay on mass production.)
So you want to buy a car? What to know before visiting the dealer
Britannica Money So you want to buy a car? What to know before visiting the dealer
Although steam-powered road vehicles were produced earlier, the origins of the automotive industry are rooted in the development of the gasoline engine in the 1860s and ’70s, principally in France and Germany. By the beginning of the 20th century, German and French manufacturers had been joined by British, Italian, and American makers.
Most early automobile companies were small shops, hundreds of which each produced a few handmade cars, and nearly all of which abandoned the business soon after going into it. The handful that survived into the era of large-scale production had certain characteristics in common. First, they fell into one of three well-defined categories: they were makers of bicycles, such as Opel in Germany and Morris in Great Britain; builders of horse-drawn vehicles, such as Durant and Studebaker in the United States; or, most frequently, machinery manufacturers. The kinds of machinery included stationary gas engines (Daimler of Germany, Lanchester of Britain, Olds of the United States), marine engines (Vauxhall of Britain), machine tools (Leland of the United States), sheep-shearing machinery (Wolseley of Britain), washing machines (Peerless of the United States), sewing machines (White of the United States), and woodworking and milling machinery (Panhard and Levassor of France). One American company, Pierce, made birdcages, and another, Buick, made plumbing fixtures, including the first enameled cast-iron bathtub. Two notable exceptions to the general pattern were Rolls-Royce in Britain and Ford in the United States, both of which were founded as carmakers by partners who combined engineering talent and business skill.
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In the United States almost all of the producers were assemblers who put together components and parts that were manufactured by separate firms. The assembly technique also lent itself to an advantageous method of financing. It was possible to begin building motor vehicles with a minimal investment of capital by buying parts on credit and selling the finished cars for cash; the cash sale from manufacturer to dealer has been integral in the marketing of motor vehicles in the United States ever since. European automotive firms of this period tended to be more self-sufficient.
The pioneer automobile manufacturer not only had to solve the technical and financial problems of getting into production but also had to make a basic decision about what to produce. After the first success of the gasoline engine, there was widespread experimentation with steam and electricity. For a brief period the electric automobile actually enjoyed the greatest acceptance because it was quiet and easy to operate, but the limitations imposed by battery capacity proved competitively fatal. Especially popular with women, electric cars remained in limited production well into the 1920s. One of the longest-surviving makers, Detroit Electric Car Company, operated on a regular basis through 1929.
Steam power, a more serious rival, was aided by the general adoption, after 1900, of the so-called flash boiler, in which steam could be raised rapidly. The steam car was easy to operate because it did not require an elaborate transmission. On the other hand, high steam pressures were needed to make the engine light enough for use in a road vehicle; suitable engines required expensive construction and were difficult to maintain. By 1910 most manufacturers of steam vehicles had turned to gasoline power. The Stanley brothers in the United States, however, continued to manufacture steam automobiles until the early 1920s.
The outstanding contribution of the automotive industry to technological advance was the introduction of full-scale mass production, a process combining precision, standardization, interchangeability, synchronization, and continuity. Mass production was an American innovation. The United States, with its large population, high standard of living, and long distances, was the natural birthplace of the technique, which had been partly explored in the 19th century. Although Europe had shared in the experimentation, the American role was emphasized in the popular description of standardization and interchangeability as “the American system of manufacture.” The fundamental techniques were known, but they had not previously been applied to the manufacture of a mechanism as complex as a motor vehicle (see work, history of the organization of).
The kind of interchangeability achieved by the “American system” was dramatically demonstrated in 1908 at the British Royal Automobile Club in London: three Cadillac cars were disassembled, the parts were mixed together, 89 parts were removed at random and replaced from dealer’s stock, and the cars were reassembled and driven 800 km (500 miles) without trouble. Henry M. Leland, founder of the Cadillac Motor Car Company and the man responsible for this feat of showmanship, later enlisted the aid of a noted electrical engineer, Charles F. Kettering, in developing the electric starter, a significant innovation in promoting the acceptability of the gasoline-powered automobile.
Overall, the global automotive industry is in better shape than it was five years ago, especially in the US, where profits and sales have recovered following the recent economic crisis, and in China, where growth remains strong. This progress will likely continue. By 2020, global profits for automotive OEMs are expected to rise by almost 50 ...
Sep 27, 2021 · Fundamental Analysis. Sectors & Industries. A Breakdown of the U.S. Auto Industry: History, Economics, & Investing Dynamics. By. The Investopedia Team. Updated September 27, 2021. Reviewed...
EV penetration in the US is expected to increase to 30% by 2030 (from about 5% currently) and hit 41% globally (from about 10% now), according to PwC’s auto industry forecast. And, by 2029, auto OEMs globally are forecast to launch over 1,000 BEV nameplates (nearly doubling the number in 2022), with North America accounting for about 170 ...
Oct 27, 2020 · Electric mobility, driverless cars, automated factories, and ridesharing —these are just a few of the major disruptions the auto industry faced even before the COVID-19 crisis.
