The Global Automobile Industry is Struggling

About eight million people 

work directly for 

auto manufacturers

throughout the world.

Far more people work for 

auto parts suppliers.

Global automobile sales

fell in 2018, for the first

time since 2009, and
2019 looks even worse:

U.S. automobile sales 

hit a plateau:

China automobile sales

have been unusually weak:

The internal combustion 
engine is under attack 
from electric vehicle 
challengers. 

Car ownership is 

no longer a necessity,

if you can get rides

with Uber and Lyft. 

Buyers have been 

losing interest in cars,

and gaining interest 

in S.U.V.s and trucks,

for many years.

That's good for profit margins,

but very bad for meeting rising

fuel economy standards.

Fiat Chrysler and Renault 

were considering joining 

forces to survive.

Major auto companies 

will spend over $400 billion 

during the next five years

developing electric cars 

equipped with technology

that semi-automates driving.

No one is sure whether 

customers are willing to pay 

for all the new technology and 

whether it will earn a profit.

Electric carmaker Tesla's

stock market capitalization, 

is still higher than either 

Fiat Chrysler or Renault.

Uber is worth much more 

than the two combined, 

even after reporting 

a $1 billion quarterly loss.

In 2018, global car sales declined 

for the first time since 2009. 

Chinese consumers bought 

24 million automobile last year, 

far more than any other nation. 

Americans were second 

with 17 million automobiles. 

General Motors sells

 far more cars in Asia

 — 947,000 in the first 

three months of this year

 — than it does in the U.S.

The number of young Americans 

getting driver’s licenses has been

falling since the 1980s.

In urban areas, people can avoid 

parking costs, and expense 

auto insurance, by relying on 

ride services such as Uber or Lyft, 

or hourly rentals with services 

such as Zipcar.

China is absorbing 

only half the cars 

their plants manufacture.

Guangzhou, a big 

Chinese producer,

was preparing to enter 

the US market before 

Trump imposed 25% tariffs 

on Chinese cars.

General Motors plans to close 

four US assembly plants by the 

end of 2019, and eliminate 10,000

white collar jobs worldwide..

This year Ford and Volkswagen 

agreed to develop new commercial 

vans and pickups together,

for sale in 2022.