The fate of the industry seems to rely on how fast production
will be ramped up following the coronavirus outbreak in the winter of 2019/2020. Amid the outbreak of the pandemic in China, many factories were closed and no new vehicles were rolling off the assembly lines in Wuhan. Work stoppages continue to affect the industry on a global scale. As factories are reopening in China, production has come to a halt in many major markets, including North America and Europe. Please also view our Statista Dossier on the impact of COVID-19 on the automotive industry.
Mass production of automobiles started in the early 1900s, when Ford introduced assembly line car production to mass-manufacture its Model T. Today, the Ford Motor Company still ranks among the leading manufacturers of passenger cars, its most popular passenger light truck model being the Ford F-Series, which was also one of 2019’s best-selling light vehicles worldwide. Surprisingly, only two American companies and one Chinese firm made it into the list of major motor vehicle manufacturers in 2018, and the automotive supplier industry was dominated by European and Japanese players such as Bosch, Continental, and Denso.
Prompted by global initiatives such as the Paris Agreement,
several countries around the globe are enacting stricter emissions controls on new vehicle models. As such, automakers are beginning to expand their business into the electric mobility sector. Every third new car sold is anticipated to be propelled or assisted by an electric battery by 2025. Over the next decade, mobiliy services and autonomous vehicles are set to stir up yet another revolution in the auto sector. China is projected to lead the market by 2040 with projected autonomous vehicle sales of 14.5 million units.
