Jump to content

Passenger vehicles in the United States

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bravada (talk | contribs) at 01:13, 8 June 2006 (→Manufacturing: short-term amnesia -> shouldn't we think of arrnaging this list according to some sensible criteria?). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The United States is home to the largest passenger vehicle market of any country[1], which is a consequence of the fact that it is the largest industrialized country in the world [2]. Overall there were an estimated 243,023,485 registered passenger vehicles in the United States in the year 2004.[3]

Manufacturing

Automobile manufacturers headquartered in the United States - The Big Three:

Other manufacturers with manufacturing operations in United States:

Total number of vehicles

According to the US Bureau of Transit Statitics there are 243,023,485 registered passenger vehicles in the US. Out of these roughly 243 million vehicles, 136,430,651 (56.13%) were classified as cars, while 91,845,327 (37.79%) were classified as "Other 2 axle, 4 tire vehicles," presumably SUVs and pick-up trucks. Yet another 6,161,028 (2.53%) were classified as vehicles with 2 axles and 6 tires and 2,010,335 (0.82%) were classified as "Truck, combination." There wer approximately 5,780,870 motorcycles in the US in 2004, which accounts for 2.37% of all registered passenger vehicles. Considering the population in the United States of 293,655,404 in the year 2004[4], there is one passenger vehicles for every 1.20 persons in the United States, meaning that there are 833.34 passenger vehicles for every 1,000 Americans. According to the Federal Highway Administration there were an estimated 196 million licensed drivers in the United States in the year 2003. Considering the slightly lower number of motor vehicles for 2003 there were an estimated 1.17 motor vehicles per licensed driver, meaning that there are more vehciles than drivers in the US, with vehicles outnumbering drivers 1.2 to one.

According to cummulative data[1] by the Federal Highway Admisitration (FHA) the numbers of motor vehicles has also increased steadly over since 1960, only stagnating once in 1997, where the annual increase in the number motor vehicles was less than one million. Otherwise the number of motor vehicles as been rising by an estimated 3.69 million each year since 1960 with the largest annual growth taking place in between 1998 and 1999 when the number of motor vehicles in the United States increased by eight million.[1] Since the study by the FHA the number of vehicles has increased by an approxiamte elevel million, one of the largest recorder increases. Since 1960 the number of passenger vehicles in the US has risen by 157 million (212.16%), while the population of licensed drivers grew by 109 million (125.28%). The trend vehicles outnumbering the population of licensed drivers can be dated back to 1972. Between 1971 and 1972 the number of motor vehicles in the US increased by four million, a record at the time. Since then the gap between the number of cars and driver has continusly risen. While in 1972 there were only one million more motor vehicles than drivers, cars outnumber drivers by thity-five million in 2003. This means that while there were 0.84% more motor vehicles than drivers in 1972, there are now 17.85% more vehicles than drivers.[1]

Vehicles and licensed drivers since 1960

The follwoing data was published by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2003.[1]

Year Resident population (millions) Drivers (millions) Motor vehicles (millions)
1960 180 87 74
1961 183 89 76
1962 186 91 79
1963 188 94 83
1964 191 95 86
1965 194 99 90
1966 196 101 94
1967 197 103 97
1968 199 105 101
1969 201 108 105
1970 204 112 108
1971 207 114 113
1972 209 118 119
1973 211 122 126
1974 213 125 130
1975 215 130 133
1976 218 134 139
1977 220 138 142
1978 222 141 148
1979 225 143 152
1980 227 145 156
1981 230 147 158
1982 232 150 160
1983 234 154 164
1984 236 155 166
1985 239 157 172
1986 241 159 176
1987 243 161 179
1988 246 163 184
1989 248 166 187
1990 248 167 189
1991 252 169 188
1992 255 173 190
1993 258 173 194
1994 260 175 198
1995 263 177 202
1996 265 180 206
1997 268 183 208
1998 270 185 208
1999 273 187 216
2000 281 191 218
2001 281 191 226
2002 288 195 230
2003 291 196 231

Age of vehicles in operation

In the year 2001 National Automobile Dealers Association conducted a study revealing the average age of vehicles in operation in the US. The study found that of vehicles in operation in the US 38.3% were older than ten years, 22.3% were between seven and ten years old, 25.8% were between three and six years old and 13.5% were less than two years old. According to this study the majority of vehicles, 60.6% of vehicles were older than seven years in 2001.[5]

Domestic vehicles

The term "domestic vehicle" in the US is applied to vehicles manufactured by the big three, even if those vehicles that were actually not manufactured inside the United States and are tehcnically imports such as the Ford Fusion which is manufactured in Mexico. Strangely enough the term is not applied to vehicles manufactured in the US by foreign corperations such as the Toyota Camry. It should also be noted that all Chrysler and Dodge vehicles are classified as domestic vehicles despite recent court rulings stating that Daimler-Benz bought the Chrysler corperation, technically making all Chrylsers and Dodges German.

General Motors

General Motors is the largest automobile manufacturer in the United States and the world. GM is heaquatered at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, employs approximately 327,000 people, sold 9.17 million cars world-wide and had a $192.6 billion revenue for the year 2005. The corperation sells its vehicles through several different divisions and subsidaries.

Model Type of vehicle
Buick (United States)
Lucerne Entry-level luxury sedan
LaCrosse Mainstream sedan
Rainer Entry-level luxury SUV
Rendevous Crossover SUV
Terraza Mini-van
Cadillac (United States)
DTS Luxury sedan
STS Luxury sedan
CTS Entry-level luxury sedan
Escalade Luxury SUV/pick-up truck
Chevrolet (United States)
Aveo Mini
Cobalt Entry-level sedan/coupe
Impala Mainstream sedan
Malibu Mainstream sedan
Tahoe Mainstream SUV
Suburban Mainstream SUV
Silverado Mainstream pick-up truck

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Federal Highway Adminsitraion, numbers of drivers and motor vehicles since 1960". Retrieved 2006-06-08.
  2. ^ "World Bank list of high income countries". Retrieved 2006-06-08.
  3. ^ "Bureau of Transportation, number of vehicles and vehicle classification". Retrieved 2006-06-08.
  4. ^ "US Census Bureau with US population and demographics in 2004". Retrieved 2006-06-08.
  5. ^ "NADA report on average age and number of vehicles (PDF file)" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-06-08.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Passenger_vehicles_in_the_United_States&oldid=57455594"