Date: 2025-07-03 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00019782
INDUSTRY - AUTOMOBILES
PRODUCTION TRENDS 1999, 2009 AND 2019.
STATISTA: These Countries Produce(d) the Most Cars
PRODUCTION TRENDS 1999, 2009 AND 2019.
STATISTA: These Countries Produce(d) the Most Cars
Open original: https://www.statista.com/chart/22634/countries-producing-most-cars-timeline/
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY (added December 2022)
For most of the 20th century the performance of the automobile industry has been a reliable indicator of the performance of the country.
In the last 20 years ... 1999 to 2019 ... three of the once strong industrial economies have dropped off this top-10 countries producing automobiles. They are the UK, Canada and Italy. Especially in the case of the UK, the economy has pivoted to financial services and consumption as the main economic drivers ... an unsustainable strategy that cannot end well.
It is China that has become #1 in automobile production in 2019, though it did not appear in the top-10 in 1999. India was not in the top-10 in 1999, but was ranked 4th in 2019. China and India both have huge domestic populations and these are now growing into huge domestic markets.
South Korea and Brazil have improved their ranking
The USA, France and Spain have lower ranking in 2019 compared to 1999.
It is encouraging that President Biden and his Democrat administation seem to appreciate the important link that there is between production and prosperity. This is a big contrast to the simplistic 'financialization' of economic activity that has dominated US (and UK) policy making since Reagan and Thatcher in the early 1980s.
Peter Burgess
prepared by Martin Armstrong,
Aug 19, 2020
Most of the world's new cars roll off assembly lines in China nowadays. As this chart, based on data from the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers shows, the ranking of countries with the highest number of cars produced has changed significantly over the years. In 1999, for example, China did not even appear in the top 10 and was ranked 14th at the time. Ten years later, China was already in first place and has maintained this position ever since.
The gap between China and the next largest producer is considerable: China produces around 21.4 million vehicles annually, while Japan produces 8.3 million. Over the last 20 years, Germany has been able to maintain its third position with around 4.7 million passenger cars produced.
The production figures in China have risen so rapidly, not least because the entire automotive industry is subject to strong globalization and German manufacturers such as Volkswagen AG are increasingly expanding their production in China. In 2019, passenger cars sold in China already accounted for around 39 percent of Volkswagen's total sales. Daimler AG and the BMW Group are also increasingly turning their attention to China. The next electrically powered versions of their Mini and Smart series, for example, are being built in China together with partners. From there they export them all over the world. Plants in Europe are lagging behind, and as production moves, so does know-how. German manufacturers enter into so-called joint ventures with Chinese companies, usually involving technology transfer.
Martin Armstrong
Data Journalist martin.armstrong@statista.com