The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. The automotive industry is one of the most important economic sectors by revenue.

The term automotive industry usually does not include industries dedicated to automobiles after delivery to the customer, such as repair shops and motor fuel filling stations.

Worldwide Trends

In 2007, worldwide production reached a peak at a total of 73.3 million new motorvehicles produced worldwide. In 2009, worldwide motorvehicle production dropped 13.5 percent to 61 million. Sales in the U.S. dropped 21.2 percent to 10.4 million units, sales in the European Union (supported by scrapping incentives in many markets) dropped 1.3 percent to 14.1 million units. China became the world's largest motorvehicles market, both by sales as by production. Sales in China rose 45 percent in 2009 to 13.6 million units.

About 250 million vehicles are in use in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. In the opinion of some, urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investments. Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars. The sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to these problems.