U.S. automobile production figures explained

Automobile experimentation and design in the US started a few years after Carl Benz patented and produced his original gasoline-powered motor car in 1886, and a handful of companies were producing them in the US by the turn of the century. The table below shows the annual unit volumes for the top US producers in each year from 1899 to 2000. The data appear to be stated in "model years", rather than calendar years (for example, 1942 shows production even though the industry was shut down on January 1, 1942 for the duration of the war). There are several cases where a producer disappears from the list for a year; it is not clear whether this is because that producer's volumes dropped dramatically (for example, from an extended labor strike) or the data are simply missing from the original sources. The numbers below represent passenger vehicles made and sold in the US by US-owned companies. Foreign-owned brands with production in the US for US consumption (such as Volkswagen or Honda) are excluded.

While a producer is active, unit volumes are typically considered a trade secret. It is not possible to estimate unit volumes from a company's revenue numbers, and when unit volumes are published they are typically of a celebratory nature (e.g., "millionth unit sold!") and lacking detail. When a marque leaves the market, analysts and enthusiasts are more able to assemble credible unit volumes.

Even the best data contain uncertainties. As the definition of "model-years" varies by brand and vintage, the data are not precisely comparable over time. Almost certainly, "fleet vehicles" are included in the numbers, but trucks are excluded. "Rebadged" imported models (such as the Metropolitan or several GM and Chrysler models after the 1980s) are not consistently reported in these numbers, and the same goes for US models produced in Canadian plants (such as Dodge's factory in Windsor, Ontario, or Studebaker's factory in Hamilton, Ontario.

Temporary marques that were later subsumed into the vendor name (such as Chrysler's Imperial) are combined, and minor vendors (those achieving well below 1% market share) have been excluded. The gaps in the spreadsheet data should be updated from authoritative data (such as the Automobile Catalog) by users.

Production figures for 1899-1900			Production figures for 1901			Production figures for 1902
	1500			1500			2750
	750			700			2500
	100			425			1500
	49			193			385
	30			140			250
	20			100			179
	15			81			170
	11			80			60
Production figures for 1903			Production figures for 1904			Production figures for 1905
	4000			5508			6500
	2497			2457			3942
	1708			2342			3807
Pope-Hartford	1500		Ford	1685			1599
	1350			710			1098
	850			550			1015
	502			400			864
	500			250			823
Production figures for 1906			Production figures for 1907			Production figures for 1908
	8729			14,887			10,202
	3559			4641			8820
	2765			3967			8132
	2458			3785			4455
	2161			3201			4105
	1600			2884			3597
	1534			1509			2377
	1400			1403			1895
Production figures for 1909			Production figures for 1910			Production figures for 1911
	17,771			32,053			69,762
	14,606			30,525		Studebaker/EMF	26,827
	9460			15,598			18,745
Studebaker/EMF	7960		Studebaker/EMF	15,020			16,000
	7868			10,039			13,389
	6592			10,000			10,071
	6575			10,000			6486
	4907			6588		Chalmers	6250
Production figures for 1912			Production figures for 1913			Production figures for 1914
	78,440			168,220			308,162
	28,572			37,422			48,461
Studebaker/EMF	28,032			31,994			35,374
	19,812			26,666			32,889
	12,708			17,284			18,000
	7640			17,000			13,516
	6342			12,543			10,417
	5838			7647			10,318
Production figures for 1915			Production figures for 1916			Production figures for 1917
	501,492			734,811			622,351
	91,904			140,111			130,988
	45,000			124,834			115,267
	44,000			71,400			111,877
	43,946			70,701			90,000
	41,243			69,000			75,000
	20,404			65,536			39,686
	19,000			27,800			33,171
Production figures for 1918			Production figures for 1919			Production figures for 1920
	435,898			820,445			806,040
	88,753			129,118			146,243
	88,717			119,310			141,000
	77,691			106,000			115,176
	62,000			80,853			105,025
	34,000			52,124			48,831
	27,757			50,000		Hudson/Essex	45,937
	19,169			39,042			45,000
Production figures for 1921			Production figures for 1922			Production figures for 1923
	1,275,618			1,147,028			1,831,128
	130,855			152,653			323,182
	82,930			138,932			201,572
	81,000			123,152			196,038
	65,023			105,005			172,000
	48,016			95,410			151,000
Hudson/Essex	27,143			55,300			146,238
	20,850		Maxwell/Chalmers	44,811		Hudson/Essex	88,914
Production figures for 1924			Production figures for 1925			Production figures for 1926
	1,720,795			1,669,847			1,426,612
	264,868			306,479			547,724
	193,861		Hudson/Essex	269,474			266,753
	163,000			215,000			265,000
	160,411			201,000		Hudson/Essex	227,508
Hudson/Essex	133,950			192,100		Willys-Overland/Whippet	182,000
	111,000			133,104			135,520
	105,387		Chrysler/Maxwell	132,343		Pontiac/Oakland	133,604
Production figures for 1927			Production figures for 1928			Production figures for 1929
	1,001,820			1,193,212			1,507,132
	367,213			607,592			1,328,605
Hudson/Essex	276,414		Willys-Overland/Whippet	315,000		Hudson/Essex	300,962
	255,160		Hudson/Essex	282,203		Willys-Overland/Whippet	242,000
Pontiac/Oakland	188,168		Pontiac/Oakland	244,584		Pontiac/Oakland	211,054
Willys-Overland/Whippet	188,000			221,758			196,104
	182,195			160,670			124,557
	180,000			138,137			116,622
Production figures for 1930			Production figures for 1931			Production figures for 1932
	1,140,710			619,554			313,404
	640,980			615,455			210,824
	181,743			138,965			186,106
	123,215			96,173		Hudson/Essex	57,550
Hudson/Essex	113,898			84,708			56,790
	108,350			75,510			45,340
	90,755			65,800			30,834
	77,881			65,500			27,800
Production figures for 1933			Production figures for 1934			Production figures for 1935
	486,261			563,921			820,253
	334,969			551,191			548,215
	298,557			321,171			350,884
	106,103			95,011			178,770
	90,198		Hudson/Terraplane	85,835		Dodge	158,999
	46,924			79,814			126,768
Studebaker/Rockne	43,024			78,859		Hudson/Terraplane	101,080
Hudson/Essex	40,982			71,009			53,249
Production figures for 1936			Production figures for 1937			Production figures for 1938
	930,778			942,005			465,158
	918,278			815,375			410,263
	520,025			566,128			285,704
	263,647			295,047			168,689
	200,546			236,189			114,529
	176,270			220,346			99,951
	168,596			200,886			97,139
Hudson/Terraplane	123,266		Packard	122,593			55,718
Production figures for 1939			Production figures for 1940			Production figures for 1941
	577,278			764,616			1,008,976
	487,031			541,896			691,455
	423,850			430,208			522,080
	208,259			278,784			374,196
	186,474			225,595			330,061
	144,340			217,001			270,040
	137,249			192,692			215,575
	85,834			107,185			161,704
Production figures for 1942			Production figures for 1946			Production figures for 1947
	254,885			468,022			671,546
	160,432			398,028			429,674
	152,427			264,660			382,290
	92,573			163,490			272,827
	83,555			153,627			243,160
	68,522			137,640			230,600
	67,783			117,623			193,895
	50,678			94,000			161,496
	40,661			91,039			119,260
	36,586			86,608			101,000
	33,776			83,310			92,038
	31,780			66,900			87,000
	24,015			30,793			85,383
	22,816			29,214			70,474
	16,511			19,275		Frazer	68,775
	6,547			16,645			61,926
	1,029			4999			51,086
							21,460
							19,344
Production figures for 1948			Production figures for 1949			Production figures for 1950
	696,449			1,118,308			1,498,590
	430,198			1,010,013			1,208,912
	412,540			520,385			610,954
	243,340			409,138			588,439
	235,419			304,819			446,429
	213,599			301,319			408,060
	184,993			288,310			341,797
	172,852			256,857			320,884
	130,110			159,100			293,658
	117,200			135,328			179,299;
	110,000			129,301			171,782
	98,890			124,218			136,203
	92,251			116,955			121,408
	91,851			95,051			103,857
	52,706			92,554			42,627
	50,268			79,947			28,190
Frazer	48,071		Lincoln	73,507			15,228
	26,239		Frazer	21,223		Crosley	6,792
	7,769			7,431		Frazer	3,700
Production figures for 1951			Production figures for 1952			Production figures for 1953
	1,229,986			818,142			1,346,475
	1,013,381			671,733			1,247,542
	611,000			396,000			650,451
	404,657			303,745			488,755
	370,159			271,373			418,619
	310,387			213,490			334,462
	290,000			206,000			320,008
	285,615			172,087			305,863
	246,195			167,662			170,006
	205,307			154,291			151,576
	163,613			90,259			132,104
	139,452			88,000			121,793
	131,915			87,470			109,651
	110,340			70,000			90,252
	106,000			62,921			66,143
	100,713			32,131			42,224
	81,942			31,363			40,762
	32,574			30,585			27,652
Frazer	10,214		Lincoln	27,271			16,672
	6,614			6,614			743 (calendar year sales)
Production figures for 1954			Production figures for 1955			Production figures for 1956
	1,165,942			1,704,667			1,567,117
	1,143,561			1,451,157			1,408,478
	463,148			738,814			572,024
	444,609			705,455			571,634
	354,001			583,179			485,458
	287,744			554,090			405,730
	259,305			329,808			327,943
	154,648			276,936			240,686
	105,030			152,777			154,577
	96,680			140,777			128,322
	91,121			116,333			109,442
	76,580			115,485			83,420
	68,708			96,156			69,593
	50,660			55,247			50,322
	36,993			45,535			22,588
	31,291			27,222			18,482
	13,162			11,432			10,684
	11,856			6,565			10,353
	8,539			6,096			9,068
	1,123			1,291		Continental	2,550
Production figures for 1957			Production figures for 1958			Production figures for 1959
	1,676,449			1,142,460			1,462,140
	1,505,910			987,945			1,450,953
	726,009			443,799			458,261
	405,086			294,374			383,320
	384,390			241,892			382,865
	334,041			217,303			374,240
	287,608			162,182			285,089
	286,163			137,861			156,385
	146,841			133,271			150,000
	126,514			121,778			142,272
	122,273			63,681			126,156
	91,469			63,110			69,970
	63,101			49,445			45,734
	41,123			44,759			44,891
	37,593			17,134		Lincoln/Continental	26,906
	15,317			16,133			22,209
	10,330			13,128			17,269
	4,809		Continental	12,550		Checker	1,050
	4,180			2,622
Continental	462
Production figures for 1960			Production figures for 1961			Production figures for 1962
	1,653,168			1,338,790			2,061,677
	1,439,370			1,318,014			1,476,031
	483,969			377,902			521,933
	458,841			356,257			442,346
	396,716			340,635			428,853
	367,804			317,548			399,526
	347,142			317,351			341,366
	271,331			276,754			339,527
	253,807			269,367			240,484
	142,184			138,379			160,840
	120,465			96,454			128,921
	77,285			59,713			89,318
	26,081			25,164			31,061
Lincoln/Continental	24,820		Imperial	12,258			14,337
	17,719			3,034			1,230
	13,103			969			420
	3,008			860
Production figures for 1963			Production figures for 1964			Production figures for 1965
	2,237,201			2,318,619			2,375,118
	1,525,404			1,594,053			2,170,795
	590,071			715,261			802,000
	488,448			551,633			728,228
	476,753			510,490			600,145
	464,126			501,781			591,701
	457,818			493,991			489,065
	446,129			393,859			391,366
	301,581			298,609			346,751
	163,174			165,909			206,089
	128,937			153,319			182,435
	69,555			36,697			40,180
	31,233			36,297			19,435
	14,121			23,295			18,409
	1,080			960			930
						Excalibur	56
							21
Production figures for 1966			Production figures for 1967			Production figures for 1968
	2,212,415			1,948,410			2,139,290
	2,206,639			1,730,224			1,753,334
	831,331			782,734			910,977
	687,514			638,075			790,239
	632,658			562,507			651,823
	578,385			548,390			627,533
	553,870			465,732			562,459
	343,149			354,923			360,467
Rambler/AMC	341,951		Rambler/AMC	302,945		AMC/Rambler	272,726
	264,848			218,742			264,853
	196,685			200,000			230,003
	54,755			45,667			46,904
	13,742			17,620			15,367
	8,947			3,225			4,451
Shelby	2,378		Checker	950			992
	1,056		Excalibur	71		Avanti II	89
	98			60		Excalibur	57
Excalibur	90
Production figures for 1969			Production figures for 1970			Production figures for 1971
	2,092,947			2,096,184			2,054,351
	1,826,777			1,451,305			1,830,319
	870,081			747,508			702,113
	751,134			690,953			586,856
	665,422			666,501			567,891
	635,241			633,981			551,386
	611,645			543,019			551,188
	398,262			324,716			365,310
AMC/Rambler	309,000		AMC	276,000			244,758
	260,773			238,744			188,537
	223,237			180,777			175,118
	61,378			59,127			62,642
	22,103			11,822			11,558
Shelby	3,150		Checker	397			500
	760			111			107
	103		Excalibur	37
Excalibur	91
Production figures for 1972			Production figures for 1973			Production figures for 1974
	2,420,564			2,579,509			2,333,839
	2,246,563			2,349,815			2,179,791
	762,199			922,771			739,894
	756,605			919,870			581,195
	706,978			882,196			580,045
	679,921			821,165			495,063
	577,870			665,536			477,728
	441,964			486,470			431,798
	267,787			392,105			403,977
	258,134			304,839			242,330
	204,704			234,223			117,373
	94,560			128,073			93,983
	15,804			16,729			14,426
	850			900			900
	127		Excalibur	122		Avanti II	123
Excalibur	65		Avanti II	106		Excalibur	118
Production figures for 1975			Production figures for 1976			Production figures for 1977
	1,755,773			2,103,862			2,543,153
	1,569,608			1,861,537			1,840,427
	631,795			891,368			1,135,803
	531,922			746,430			850,620
	481,768			737,466			845,234
	454,105			519,962			546,132
	404,650			480,361			526,254
	377,462			430,641			521,909
	264,732			309,139			399,297
	251,549			283,577			358,488
	241,501			222,153			191,355
	101,843			124,756			182,005
	8,830		Excalibur	184		Excalibur	237
	450			156			146
	125
Excalibur	90
Production figures for 1978			Production figures for 1979			Production figures for 1980
	2,375,436			2,284,749			2,288,745
	1,923,655			1,835,937			1,162,275
	1,015,805			1,068,154			910,306
	900,380			907,434			854,011
	803,187			727,275			770,100
	635,051			669,138			347,711
	501,129			404,266			308,638
	467,720			383,138			290,974
	354,029			372,449			230,028
	349,684			349,450			199,613
	169,620			189,546			164,510
	137,860			169,439			74,908
Excalibur	263		Excalibur	367		Avanti II	168
	165			142		Excalibur	93
Production figures for 1981			Production figures for 1982			Production figures for 1983
	1,673,093			1,297,357			1,175,200
	950,301			748,732			916,583
	873,678			739,984			808,416
	856,996			702,340			783,225
	489,436			541,061			359,594
	393,633			328,597			318,478
	375,756			247,936			304,464
	340,899			241,359			292,814
	240,189			235,584			273,489
	137,125			103,310			168,726
	69,537			85,313			159,882
	56,726			70,898			101,068
Excalibur	235		Excalibur	212		Excalibur	138
	200			200			100
Production figures for 1984			Production figures for 1985			Production figures for 1986
	1,655,151			1,418,098			1,368,837
	1,180,708			1,165,649			1,253,525
	1,144,225			1,149,427			1,050,832
	987,980			1,002,906			850,103
	594,821			519,390			799,461
	475,381			500,835			450,365
	442,527			420,780			399,240
	375,853			419,869			367,898
	357,764			393,711			350,573
	300,300			384,840			281,683
	208,624			166,486			156,839
	157,434			150,189			64,873
	287
Production figures for 1987			Production figures for 1988			Production figures for 1989
	1,384,214			1,331,489			1,275,498
	1,176,775			1,236,316			1,234,954
	724,289			680,714			801,600
	670,880			535,015			533,818
	648,689			489,645			506,787
	501,926			458,768			481,139
	443,806			336,070			294,899
	360,613			298,859			276,330
	315,147			280,659			268,442
	282,582			278,287			224,097
	109,366			270,844			215,966
	36,336			150			350
	300
Production figures for 1990						Production figures for 1992
	912,466						922,488
	785,918						647,227
	641,820						561,940
	489,492						427,915
	426,512					Lincoln/Mercury(combined)	411,090
	366,330						395,974
	268,850						263,539
	242,637						221,112
	233,730						212,122
	206,289						135,721
	174,266						123,400
Production figures for 1993			Production figures for 1994			Production figures for 1995
	1,026,338			1,220,512			1,012,818
	692,116			651,647			665,955
	559,947			597,137			574,455
	463,361			483,029			393,879
	402,389			481,452			391,216
	398,717			440,838			382,892
	281,479			303,678			331,253
	254,446			280,363			301,540
	214,807			226,136			186,113
	155,308			169,37			124,571
	84,819			77,993			121,022
Production figures for 1996			Production figures for 1997			Production figures for 1998
	1,036,048			913,440			878,405
	541,844			650,820			561,218
	537,711			600,506			473,804
	389,711			376,348			332,403
	342,538			287,655			291,064
	313,937			277,086			243,814
	300,032			271,612			241,619
	280,416			241,058			212,780
	162249			169,912			175,089
	185,705			155,563			143,245
	52,071			44,096			48,739
Production figures for 1999			Production figures for 2000
	918,040			965,029
	609,100			573,805
	589,574			547,294
	307,077			298,042
	295,584			282,292
	277,782			260,904
	267,064			237,399
	216,652			209,328
	144,599			158,944
	117,645			80,348
	47,124			54,543

References

• Book: James M. Flammang and Consumer Guide . Cars of the Sensational '70s: A Decade of Changing Tastes and New Directions. Publications International, Inc. . 2000 . 0-7853-2980-3.
• Book: Consumer Guide . Cars of the Sizzling '60s: A Decade of Great Rides and Good Vibrations . Publications International, Inc. . 2001 . 0-7853-4487-X . registration .
• Book: Consumer Guide . Cars of the Fabulous '50s: A Decade of High Style and Good Times . Publications International, Inc. . 2001 . 0-7853-4375-X.
• Book: Consumer Guide . Cars of the Classic '30s: A Decade of Elegant Design . Publications International, Inc. . 2004 . 0-7853-9873-2.
• Web site: Studebaker Production Volumes 1913-1929 . Studebaker Drivers Club . 1 July 2024 .
• Web site: Eagle Production Volumes . Automobile Catalog . 1 July 2024 .