History of Car Production

1.2 Production

• United States: During the period 1896 to 1930 over 1,800 car manufacturers were believed to have existed in America.

• Possibly as many as 75% of these were formed prior to the mid 1920s. By the early 1940s a high percentage had gone out of business.

• Worldwide: The number of car manufacturers that have existed worldwide is estimated at between 3,000 to 4,000. More than 50% of these were in the United States.

• By the start of the twenty-first century the countries that have had the most car manufacturers are: United States, Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Brazil, Canada and Australia.

• In 1900 France produced more cars that any other country.

• Of the 4,192 cars manufactured in the United States in 1900, 1,681 (40.1%) were steam, 1,575 (37.6%) electric and 936 (22.3%) gasoline

• In 1904 the United States started to manufacture more cars than France.

• At the end of World War 2 the Japanese were banned from making private cars until 1947 when they were permitted to produce 300.

• The three largest car manufacturers in 1998 were Japan (8 million), United States (5.5 million) and Germany (5.3 million).