Statistics and Facts about the Global Automotive Industry

Global sales of passenger cars are forecast to hit 73.9 million vehicles in 2015. Along with China, the United States is counted among the largest automobile markets worldwide, both in terms of production and sales. About 7.7 million passenger cars were sold to U.S. customers in 2014, and around 4.25 million cars were produced here in the same year. The United States became a key automotive market when Ford introduced assembly line car production in the early 1900s to mass-manufacture its Model T. Today, the Ford Motor Company still ranks among the leading manufacturers of passenger cars, its most popular model currently being the Ford Focus, which was also 2013’s best selling car worldwide. In terms of revenue, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors top the list of major automobile makers, while the automotive supplier industry is dominated by Bosch, Continental, Denso and Magna.

Over the next decade, Internet-connected car technologies and autonomous vehicles are set to stir up yet another revolution in the automotive sector. In 2014, some 23 percent of U.S. respondents stated that they were very likely to buy a fully autonomous car, mainly because they consider autonomous vehicles to be safer than conventional cars. The global market for autonomous driving hardware components is expected to grow from 400 million U.S. dollars in 2015 to 40 billion U.S. dollars in 2030.

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