Motor Vehicle Production

Global motor vehicle production, 1970–2025

Global motor vehicle production has expanded substantially since 1970, rising from around 29 million vehicles to 77.9 million in 2010 and 96.4 million in 2025. The geographical balance has changed alongside that growth. North America and Western Europe were central to the industry’s early expansion, while Japan, South Korea and subsequently China became increasingly important manufacturing centres. Growing Asian production transformed an industry once concentrated much more heavily around the Atlantic.

The recent figures reveal a less even path. Worldwide output was 91.9 million in 2019, fell to 80.0 million in 2021 and recovered to 93.5 million in 2023. Production dipped slightly in 2024 before increasing by 3.9% in 2025. China’s expansion remains particularly influential, while several established producers are still below their pre-pandemic levels. The long-term increase therefore combines rising production in newer industrial centres with slower growth, fluctuations and occasional contraction in traditional manufacturing economies.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years; Historical world totals compiled from Ward’s and OICA; OICA: revised 2010 world production.

Selected full years, rather than a complete annual series. Earlier historical totals use the cited compilation; 2010 uses OICA’s revised total. Recent years use the same 2025 survey vintage. Motorcycles are excluded.

Share of global motor vehicle production by region, 2019–2025

The eastward shift in vehicle manufacturing remains clear in the latest regional figures. Asia–Oceania accounts for 61.4% of reported world production in 2025, up from 53.7% in 2019. Europe’s share falls from 23.1% to 17.8%, while the Americas decline from 21.9% to 19.4%. Africa remains a much smaller producer, contributing approximately 1.3%. The changes extend the original page’s central theme: automotive manufacturing has become increasingly concentrated in Asia.

China is the largest force behind this redistribution, although Japan, India and South Korea also make substantial contributions. Europe and North America continue to produce millions of vehicles and retain important automotive industries, but their global weight has diminished as Asian output has grown faster. A declining share can coexist with substantial national production. The different regional trajectories show how the industry’s centre of gravity has shifted without removing the importance of its older manufacturing centres.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

Updated to the four consistently reported OICA regions. The Americas include Mexico, and Europe includes Türkiye and the reported CIS countries. These boundaries differ from the original historical groups, so the series are not spliced together.

Motor vehicle production by region, 2019–2025

Asia–Oceania’s production rises from 49.3 million vehicles in 2019 to 59.2 million in 2025. That increase is larger than the net gain in worldwide production because output falls in Europe and the Americas. China’s expansion is decisive, while India also increases its manufacturing scale. Japan remains a major producer despite lower output than in 2019. The region’s growth therefore reflects different national trajectories rather than an identical rise across every Asian economy.

Europe produces 17.2 million vehicles in 2025, compared with 21.3 million in 2019, while the Americas fall from 20.2 million to 18.7 million. Both regions recover from their 2021 lows but remain below the starting level. Mexico continues to be a significant producer within the North American manufacturing network, while Brazil anchors South American output. Africa rises from 1.12 million to 1.23 million, retaining a much smaller total. These contrasting paths strengthen Asia’s lead over the other regions.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

Selected years from the same OICA release; 2020 is not included in its comparison columns. Regional boundaries match the previous chart. The older claim of a general East Asian decline in the 1990s is not carried forward without a verified comparable series.

Top 10 countries by reported motor vehicle production, 2025

China dominates motor vehicle production in 2025 with 34.5 million vehicles, more than three times the United States’ 10.2 million. Japan follows on 8.4 million and India on 6.5 million. Together, these four countries account for nearly 62% of the reported world total. Their positions reflect a combination of large domestic markets, established automotive industries and extensive manufacturing capacity, with China operating on a particularly large scale.

Germany, South Korea and Mexico have closely matched reported figures of around 4.1 million. Brazil produces 2.6 million, Spain 2.3 million and France 1.46 million, completing the ten. France is narrowly ahead of Thailand and Czechia, correcting the original chart’s missing tenth entry. Several major producers are concentrated in Europe and East Asia, while Mexico and Brazil demonstrate the importance of manufacturing in the Americas. The ranking also highlights the considerable gap between China and every other individual producer.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

Ranking of separately reported countries in OICA’s 2025 survey. Germany covers passenger cars only; France covers cars and light commercial vehicles only. Their figures are not complete all-vehicle totals. These coverage differences are visible in the labels; unallocated regional aggregates are excluded.

China’s changing share of world production, 2019–2025

China’s share of reported world vehicle production increases from 28.0% in 2019 to 35.8% in 2025. Its output rises from 25.8 million to 34.5 million vehicles over the same period, while the world total grows much more slowly. This means that more than one in three vehicles in the survey is now manufactured in China. The increase extends the rapid industrial expansion that made China the leading producer during the early twenty-first century.

The gain is particularly clear between 2024 and 2025, when Chinese production rises by 3.25 million vehicles. That accounts for almost 89% of the net worldwide increase, although growth elsewhere is partly offset by declines. China’s position combines an enormous domestic market with an increasingly international automotive industry. Its strength in electric vehicles and batteries adds another dimension to this manufacturing scale. The result is a larger global share even as other major producers continue to operate substantial automotive industries.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

Share equals China’s reported output divided by OICA’s world total for the same year. Shares refer to production location, not the nationality of vehicle brands; the net-growth contribution is not a share of gross increases across growing countries.

Growth since 2019 among the ten leading producers

India and China record the strongest growth among the ten leading producers, increasing output by 43.5% and 34.1% respectively between 2019 and 2025. South Korea’s rise is much smaller, at 3.8%, while Mexico increases by 2.0%. Their gains contrast with declines across most of the remaining countries. India’s rapid percentage growth comes from a smaller starting point than China’s, so China still adds far more vehicles in absolute terms.

The United States produces 6.0% fewer vehicles than in 2019, Brazil 10.2% fewer and Japan 13.2% fewer. Spain and France show larger reductions, at 19.4% and 32.6%. Germany’s consistently reported passenger-car series declines by 11.0%. These differences show that the recovery from the pandemic has not returned every major producer to its previous scale. Worldwide output can exceed its 2019 level while several established automotive centres remain smaller, because growth in the largest Asian markets outweighs losses elsewhere.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

Selection is the ten leading reported countries in 2025. Both endpoints use the current OICA comparison series. Germany is cars only and France is cars plus light commercial vehicles; the same coverage is used at both endpoints.

Africa’s main vehicle producers, 2019–2025

South Africa and Morocco dominate the reported African vehicle industry. In 2025 they produce approximately 618,000 and 502,000 vehicles respectively, together accounting for just over 91% of the continental total. South Africa remains the larger producer, although its output is slightly below 2019. Morocco finishes roughly one quarter above its 2019 level, despite a decline from 560,000 vehicles in 2024. Their contrasting recent paths illustrate the uneven development of African automotive manufacturing.

Egypt’s reported output increases from 26,000 vehicles in 2019 to nearly 90,000 in 2025, while Algeria falls from 60,000 to around 43,000. Algeria’s production recovers from much lower levels earlier in the decade but has not regained its starting total. Africa’s combined output remains small beside Asia, Europe or the Americas, yet the country figures reveal considerable variation within that smaller industry. The balance is shaped overwhelmingly by two established centres, alongside much smaller producers with more volatile annual production.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

The four individually reported African producers in this OICA survey. Egypt’s figures are reported on an annual-only basis. OICA coverage should not be interpreted as a census of every small vehicle-assembly operation in Africa.

The shifting balance within European production, 2019–2025

The older EU member group plus the United Kingdom produces 10.1 million vehicles in 2025, down from 13.3 million in 2019. The newer EU members produce 4.17 million, compared with 4.38 million at the start. Both groups decline over the full period, but the reduction is much larger in the older manufacturing centres. Consequently, newer members account for 29.3% of the combined total in 2025, up from 24.7% in 2019.

Czechia and Slovakia are particularly substantial producers within the newer-member group, contributing about 1.45 million and 1.07 million vehicles respectively in 2025. Germany remains the largest individually reported producer in the older group, while Spain and France also retain sizeable industries. The changing balance demonstrates that Europe’s automotive decline is not uniform. Some Central European manufacturing centres have held their output relatively close to earlier levels, while several long-established Western European producers have experienced much larger contractions.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

Uses OICA’s source groups, not geographical definitions of Western and Eastern Europe. “EU15 + UK” reproduces its legacy group label; the newer-member aggregate is the difference between EU27 + UK and that group. Certain countries have partial vehicle-type coverage, including Germany’s cars-only series.

World map of motor vehicle production, 2025

Darker blue indicates greater reported production. Grey means no country-level figure in this dataset. Germany, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands report cars only; France and Argentina report cars plus light commercial vehicles. The accessible data table retains country values, including small producers.

Vehicle manufacturing is concentrated in a relatively small number of major industrial economies. China is the outstanding centre, followed by the United States, Japan and India. Europe contains several substantial producers within a comparatively compact area, while South Korea and Mexico also stand out. These concentrations reflect the scale of the automotive industry in countries that combine manufacturing capacity, supplier networks and access to large markets.

Brazil is the largest reported South American producer, while South Africa and Morocco anchor African output. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia demonstrate that Asian manufacturing extends well beyond its four largest automotive economies. Central European producers such as Czechia and Slovakia are also significant despite their smaller populations. The geographical pattern therefore combines a few exceptionally large manufacturing centres with a wider network of national industries. Production location also differs from company nationality: international automotive groups manufacture across borders, so a country’s output includes vehicles made by foreign-owned as well as domestic firms.

Sources: OICA: full-year 2025 production survey, including revised comparison years.

Country-level figures only; OICA’s unallocated Asia–Oceania aggregate is not assigned to individual countries. Grey is unavailable, not zero. Partial vehicle-type coverage is identified in the map note and the ZIP source audit. The Netherlands’ reported cars-only figure is zero.