Editing Automotive industry (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the automobile}}[[File:Thomas B Jeffery Works Drawing.jpg|thumb|The [[Thomas B. Jeffery Company]] automobile factory in [[Kenosha, Wisconsin]] around 1916]]
[[File:Workers in Fiat factories, Turin.jpg|thumb|[[Fiat 1800 and 2100]] sedans being assembled at a [[Fiat]] factory in 1961]]

The automotive industry began in the 1860s with hundreds of manufacturers pioneering the [[Brass Era car|horseless carriage]]. Early car manufacturing involved manual assembly by a human worker. The process evolved from engineers working on a stationary car to a conveyor belt system where the car passed through multiple stations of more specialized engineers. In the 1960s, robotic equipment was introduced, and most cars are now mainly assembled by automated machinery.<ref>{{cite web |date=24 September 2010 |title=The Timeline: Car manufacturing |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/features/timeline-car-manufacturing-2088018.html |first=Alice-Azania |last=Jarvis |work=The Independent |access-date=19 April 2024}}</ref>

For many decades, the [[Automotive industry in the United States|United States]] led the world in total automobile production, with the U.S. [[Big Three (automobile manufacturers)|Big Three]] [[General Motors]], [[Ford Motor Company]], and [[Chrysler]] being the world's three largest auto manufacturers for a time, and G.M. and Ford remaining the two largest until the mid-2000s. In 1929, before the [[Great Depression]], the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, of which the U.S. automobile enterprises produced more than 90%. At that time, the U.S. had one car per 4.87 persons.<ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FSgDAAAAMBAJ&q=U.S.+makes+ninety+percent+of+world's+automobiles&pg=PA84 |title=U.S. Makes Ninety Percent of World's Automobiles |magazine=Popular Science |date=November 1929 |page=84 |volume=115 |issue=5 |access-date=6 August 2013 }}</ref> After 1945, the U.S. produced around three-quarters of the world's auto production. In 1980, the U.S. was overtaken by [[Automotive industry in Japan|Japan]] and then became a world leader again in 1994. Japan narrowly passed the U.S. in production during 2006 and 2007, and in 2008 also [[Automotive industry in China|China]], which in 2009 took the top spot (from Japan) with 13.8 million units, although the U.S. surpassed Japan in 2011, to become the second-largest automobile industry. In 2024, China produced more than 31 million vehicles in a year, after breaking 30 million in 2023, reaching 29 million for the first time in 2017 and 28 million the year before. In 2024, China produced the most passenger cars in the world, with Japan, India, Germany, and South Korea trailing. This was achieved by Chinese car companies signing joint ventures with foreign manufacturers.<ref>{{Cite web |title=China car production by type 2024 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/281133/car-production-in-china/#:~:text=In%202024,%20approximately%2027.5%20million,had%20been%20produced%20in%20China. |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=Statista |language=en}}</ref> From 1970 (140 models) to 1998 (260 models) to 2012 (684 models), the number of automobile models in the U.S. has grown exponentially.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Aichner |first1=Thomas |last2=Coletti |first2=Paolo |date=2013 |title=Customers' online shopping preferences in mass customization |journal=Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=20–35 |doi=10.1057/dddmp.2013.34 |s2cid=167801827 |doi-access=free}}</ref>