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Automotive – Past, Present and FutureAutomotive Industry: A historical background
Automotive refers to anything related to the automobile or moving vehicles. The automotive industry is quite old and its history goes back to 1885 when Karl Benz in Germany invented an automobile powered by an Otto Gasoline engine. After that a series of experiments and innovation started happening in the automotive industry across the world to improve the design and performance of those wonderful machines.
Automotive Industry in today’s world
The automotive industry has come a long way and in 2005, 63 million cars and light trucks were manufactured worldwide. Today, the United Stated is the leading producer (with around 20% of all vehicles being manufactured) of automobiles followed by Japan and Germany.
General Motors of the United States produces the largest number of vehicles in the world followed by Toyota of Japan and Ford of United States. It has been said that Toyota will exceed General Motors (in number of vehicles produced) by 2009. Porsche has the coveted tag of most profitable per-unit car-maker of the world due to its premium pricing.
Changing face of the Automotive Industry
In the initial years nobody cared about fuel efficiency and maintenance cost of the vehicles, but as the automotive industry began to expand and reach the masses, it became more and more important.
Many earlier manufacturers didn’t think about these factors and kept making vehicles in its old fashioned way which led to their downfall. Today, a couple of our major automotive manufacturers are having financial problems. General Motors and Ford both have problems.
Toyota on the other hand expanded its operations due to better technology, better fuel efficiency and less maintenance cost. With fuel prices going higher, fuel efficiency has become the buzzword and it’s ruling the automotive world.
Need an Automobile?
With the rise of population and income levels, buying an automobile has never been so affordable. In the United States, every other person owns a car (i.e. a car density of 500 per thousand people).
With so many people buying cars, the need for a second car market arose and getting a pre-owed car became quite popular. Further, with people moving across the world, it was not always possible to buy a car and hence car renting industry became grew and now one can rent with just a click of the mouse through their computer.
Along with this rapid transition, the need for repair parts and individual tastes came into play. Thus, the classic cars, street rods, and any other item that appeals to the automotive enthusiast.
Future of Automotive Industry
With fuel prices rising, the need for small and fuel efficient vehicles has become quite obvious. Further, with increasing pollution levels, environmental friendly cars are being manufactured with Honda and Toyota leading the way.
Electric cars are also getting popular but due to limitations of speed and efficiency, these cars are not getting produced commercially for large population.
For automotive related topics, take a tour through the links below.
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