US Car Production By Make : 1990-99

The first US assembled Subaru, the Legacy

The 1990's were a continuation of the previous decade, with US car makers losing production volume as the Japanese companies moved in. The truck/SUV side of the industry was roaring ahead and profits were better there too. That is where the US automakers were heading, increasingly leaving the car side to foreign brands. So production numbers are not as bad as they look if you factor in the swing away from the traditional car.

Honda moved to third and Toyota fourth, with Chrysler now fifth. Nissan was one brand going the other way, with production shifting to Mexico, another trend to affect car making numbers in the USA. VW made all its cars south of the border.

Below numbers are in thousands so three zeros need to be added.

Yr	GM	Ford	Hon	Toy	Chry	Nis	Mit	Sub	Maz	BMW	Total
90	2,613	1,389	435	322	717	96	64	32	91	-	5,759
91	2,909	1,645	451	299	703	134	82	58	91	-	6,372
92	2,466	1,334	458	346	582	171	83	58	89	-	5,587
93	2,457	1,593	404	356	533	292	98	47	116	-	5,896
94	2,720	1,661	499	390	583	313	122	54	133	-	6,475
95	2,513	1,396	552	517	597	333	116	81	99	12	6,216
96	2,198	1,426	634	545	529	278	122	99	96	51	5,978
97	2,258	1,290	648	554	452	280	110	102	91	62	5,847
98	1,985	1,211	695	539	434	223	97	104	94	55	5,437
99	2,151	1,225	686	517	432	168	119	93	87	48	5,526

US Car Production By Make : 1980-89

The Honda Accord was the first US made car for the company

Things were changing in the 1980's. Trucks were making a mark (which are not included here) and the Japanese manufacturing invasion was underway. Total car sales were declining and AMC had gone, leaving just the three local car makers. While Ford and Chrysler actually managed small increases, GM's production volume was much lower.

While the four Japanese car brands that had entered domestic production were still in their infancy, the writing was on the wall. They had a better reputation for reliability and were now using US production to gain acceptance. They were no longer taking jobs, but creating them.

Production numbers below are in thousands, so you need to add three zeros.

	Yr	GM	Ford	Chrys	Hon	Toy	Nis	Maz	AMC	Total
	80	5,053	1,584	770	-	-	-	-	200	7,607
	81	4,133	1,396	795	-	-	-	-	137	6,461
	82	3,516	1,163	594	1	-	-	-	102	5,376
	83	3,511	1,244	739	55	-	-	-	169	5,718
	84	4,682	1,814	1,176	139	-	-	-	209	8,020
	85	4,491	1,736	1,315	145	65	44	-	150	7,946
	86	4,351	1,810	1,169	238	206	65	-	65	7,904
	87	3,711	1,601	1,306	324	187	117	4	42	7,292
	88	3,182	1,911	1,104	366	75	110	144	-	6,892
	89	3,385	1,747	974	362	231	116	51	-	6,866

Škoda Worldwide Production Car/LCV By Nation : 2011-14

Škoda is a brand that is going well. At 21st for worldwide production, there is plenty of scope. Volumes are not helped by the fact that it is only strong in Europe and China. I think parent VW has missed an opportunity by not using it more. Renault has benefited immensely with Dacia and while Škoda isn't the same sort of budget brand, it still is more low cost than VW.

With over 60% of production in its home nation and much of the rest in China, Škoda is limited in its spread. It seems VW is the brand that the parent company wants to push more. Yet Škoda is more profitable and I believe that some within VW are not happy about. I read somewhere it was to do with the belief that Škoda was getting VW technology too cheaply.

It will be interesting to see how the emissions scandal will affect the Czech make as its diesels are affected too.

11	12	13	14	Nation	2011	2012	2013	2014	%
1	1	1	1	Czech Rep	630,285	571,541	596,347	639,207	60.9
2	2	2	2	China	218,945	230,481	255,222	277,138	26.4
3	3	3	3	Russia	43,725	58,741	67,217	80,476	7.7
5	4	4	4	Slovakia	1,072	38,574	42,971	41,974	4.0
4	5	5	5	India	19,806	35,555	15,310	10,887	1.0
				Total	913,833	934,892	977,067	1,049,682	1.3

Data source: OICA.

Daihatsu Worldwide Prod Car/LCV By Nation : 2011-14

Coming in at 20th is Daihatsu, part of the Toyota Group. It was a world player years ago but has steadily been pulled back to the point it is now only sold in Asia. I guess that it overlaps with Toyota cars anyway to a large degree and marketing small vehicles profitably is a challenge.

Daihatsu cars are also made by a Malaysian firm Perodua and are very popular in that nation. Just under 200,000 of them rolled off the production line in 2014. I don't add them to the Daihatsu figure as Daihatsu are a minority shareholder, so they are made under licence by Perodua. The combined the total would pass Mitsubishi's worldwide total, which shows how popular the big D is in Asia. It doesn't even rely on China to help its production numbers.

Daihatsu is a very reliable car make too, so a shame they have pulled out of so many markets. I bought a new one ten years ago and the salesman said it would only need routine servicing, they don't break down. I thought he exaggerated, but it hasn't had one problem in that decade. Mechanical simplicity is part of the reason.

11	12	13	14	Nation	2011	2012	2013	2014	%
1	1	1	1	Japan	609,657	774,406	774,949	782,195	71.2
2	2	2	2	Indonesia	191,043	222,179	270,650	316,016	28.8
3	3	3	3	Venezuela	978	870	410	60	0.0
				Total	801,678	997,455	1,046,009	1,098,271	1.31

Data source: OICA.

Mitsubishi Worldwide Prod Car/LCV By Nation : 2011-14

A lot rides on the Outlander's shoulders

The 19th largest car producer is very much a made in Asia brand. It used to share a plant in the Netherlands with Volvo but found going it alone too much and closed that. It also had a plant in common with Chrysler in the US but now that it tries to keep it going without a partner is again not cost effective, so the US plant is to go as well.

That will leave virtually all capacity in Asia. That isn't a disaster but will work against the company being a global success. There are benefits to having factories in a region that you want to be a big selling car maker. Countries such as Thailand will be an important part of the picture as an exporting hub.

However, Mitsubishi is a stand alone car maker and its hard to see where it goes from here. Maybe Asia/Pacific will be enough to keep it viable with marginal presence in other regions. Only 1.5% of all cars/LCVs made is challenging for profitability in this cash hungry, volume driven industry.

11	12	13	14	Nation	2011	2012	2013	2014	%
1	1	1	1	Japan	600,164	512,873	578,329	639,673	50.7
2	2	2	2	Thailand	209,003	356,750	357,627	323,273	25.6
3	7	5	3	China	109,463	21,527	61,891	75,564	6.0
7	6	3	4	USA	37,145	36,974	67,344	69,173	5.5
4	3	4	5	Indonesia	53,316	62,860	63,480	58,986	4.7
5	5	7	6	Taiwan	50,088	40,644	35,886	37,545	3.0
6	4	6	7	Brazil	37,350	40,950	39,090	26,730	2.1
9	9	8	8	Philippines	12,778	13,455	13,722	16,483	1.3
-	-	9	9	Russia			3,783	9,453	0.7
13	10	10	10	India	497	810	1,980	1,380	0.1
-	-	13	11	Venezuela			422	918	0.1
12	11	12	12	Vietnam	602	601	601	871	0.1
10	12	11	13	Tunisia	1,860	300	1,560	540	0.0
-	13	14	14	Bangladesh		176	162	536	0.0
8	8	-	-	Netherland	23,808	19,516
11	-	-	-	RSA	778
				Total	1,136,852	1,107,436	1,225,877	1,261,125	1.5

Data source: OICA.