Automotive industry

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2007, more than 73 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.

In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in Asia-Pacific, 19.4 million in USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa. The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, Russia, Brazil, India and China saw the most rapid growth.

About 250 million vehicles are in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.

In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re-evaluate their private vehicle usage.

The automotive industry crisis of 2008 occurred mainly as a result of the global financial crisis and the related credit crunch. In the United States, other contributing factors were pricing pressures on raw materials and substantially more expensive automobile fuels which, in particular, caused customers to turn away from large vehicles such as SUVs. In certain countries, particularly the United States, the industry has also suffered from relatively cheap imports available from countries such as Japan and South Korea and to some extent from Europe. As of November 2008, the Big Three U.S. manufacturers, (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler), indicated that unless additional funding could be obtained over the short to medium term, there would be real dangers of bankruptcy.