Vehicle Construction  Manufacturers, Traders, Suppliers

Vehicles are produced in a production process based on the division of labour. In the process, inputs from almost all sectors of an economy are used and systematically combined into the end product within the framework of complex logistical processes. The car manufacturer, for example, usually develops the vehicle, manufactures the body and essential components, carries out assembly and organizes sales. The share of automobile manufacturers in the value added associated with the production of an automobile is currently less than 30 percent in the industrialized countries, which means that a significantly higher share is accounted for by inputs from the other sectors of the economy. The manufacturers of ready-to-install motor vehicle parts play a decisive role here. In recent years, their importance has increased considerably in connection with the transition of automobile manufacturers to complete modules and systems.World automobile production reached more than 75 million units in 2007, almost ten times higher than in 1950. More than 72 percent of these were passenger cars, the remainder were commercial vehicles - from pick-ups and vans to heavy trucks, semitrailers and buses of various sizes.so far, the industrialized countries of Western Europe, North America and Japan have remained the most important manufacturing countries. Automobile production in the industrializing countries of South and Southeast Asia and Latin America progressed faster than in the traditional industrialized countries at the end of the eighties to the mid-nineties of the 20th century. In 2007, the USA was at the top of the automobile manufacturing countries with a production of a good 20.1 million vehicles. Almost nineteen million cars were produced in Japan. With a production of around ten million passenger and commercial vehicles, Germany ranked third in 2007. This means that almost every eleventh of all cars manufactured in Germany this year rolled off the production line.