The most important numbers in automotive history

An image is worth 1000 words but sometimes a simple statistic tells the whole story on its own.

In the automotive industry, numbers illustrate how trends come and go, how fast technology advances and which markets auto-makers should keep an eye on. Here are some of the most significant statistics that bring the industry’s backdrop to life. 

37435 (1885)

Karl Benz finished building what’s widely considered the very first car in 1885. In January 1886, he applied for a patent for what he called a “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” Authorities awarded him German patent number 37435 shortly after. With two seats and three wheels, the Benz Patent Motor Car used a single-cylinder four-stroke engine that wheezed out less than one horsepower in its most basic configuration.

15 (1895)

The first documented car race in the world took place in June 1895. Held in France, it took participants from Paris to Bordeaux and back, a trip which requires no more than 12 hours today. Emile Levassor, the winner, completed the 752-mile journey in about 49 hours behind the wheel of a Panhard et Levassor powered by a two-cylinder Daimler engine. He averaged about 15mph.

825 (1909)

Ford’s famous Model T carried a base price of $825 in 1909, its first full year on the market. That sum converts to $21,381 in 2017 dollars. Economies of scale allowed Ford to slash the Model T’s price in subsequent years, reaching an all-time low of $260 ($3,636 today) in 1925. 

5000 (1913)

Inspired by Chicago-area meat-packing plants, Henry Ford launched the automotive industry’s first large-scale assembly line in 1913. “The man who puts in a bolt does not put on the nut; the man who puts on the nut does not tighten it,” Ford summed up when describing his idea. The 5000 parts that made up the Model T could be assembled eight times faster than before when the car went down an assembly line, sending annual output up and prices way down. 

1372 (1923)

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest organized the first 24 Hours of Le Mans in May 1923. Running for 24 consecutive hours is easier said than done today; in the 1920s it was almost unheard of. First place went to a Chenard-Walcker Sport that logged 1372 miles at an average speed of 57mph. It carried a tool box so the driver could stop and mend the car when needed.

44 (1936)

After introducing the world’s first regular-production diesel truck, Mercedes-Benz asked its engineers to apply the technology to a passenger car. The team developed a 2.6-liter four-cylinder engine that made 44hp at 3000rpm. The 260D became the world’s first production passenger car with a diesel engine when it made its debut at the 1936 Berlin Auto Show.

12 (1944)

World War II led to widespread gasoline shortages in Europe. Some motorists adjusted their driving style accordingly while others explored alternative forms of fuel. 12 percent of passenger cars and 58 percent of trucks registered in France in January 1944 used a wood gas generator for propulsion. The average truck burned about 220lb (100kg) of wood to drive 62 miles.

Before you head down to the local wood with a chainsaw, be warned: running an engine on wood gas presented numerous disadvantages including a crippling loss of power. Most drivers switched back to gasoline as soon as possible. 

12,000 (1955)

Citroën stunned the public and the press when it introduced the DS at the 1955 edition of the Paris Auto Show. Its futuristic design ensured it looked like nothing else on the road and the firm’s promotional material promised the hydraulic suspension “actually floats you on air.” Citroen received approximately 755 DS orders in 45 minutes, 12,000 orders during the first day of the Paris show and 80,000 over the course of the entire event.

1.4 billion (1962)

Business boomed for American auto-makers in the 1960s. In 1962, General Motors made $1.4 billion after taxes, more than any private corporation in history at that point. It broke its own record by $132 million the following year. In 1964, its profits exceeded the national income of Ireland. At the time, GM offered cutting-edge products everyone wanted and it had more money than its main rivals to spend on anything it wished. It was, in a way, the Apple of its era.

30 (1964)

The idea of a car with a television-like screen embedded in the dashboard was a nutty one half a decade ago. And yet, Ford previewed the modern-day GPS with the Aurora concept it introduced in 1964. The design study came with what period documents referred to as a position indicator. It consisted of a paper map with crosshairs that automatically adjusted to show the car’s position. It didn’t provide directions but it made a little bit more difficult for motorists to get lost – at least in theory.

The position indicator remained at the concept stage. GPS systems didn’t start becoming common until about 30 years later.

6.5 (1972)

Historically on the front lines of automotive safety, Volvo began experimenting with the idea of a rear-view camera in 1972. Its Experimental Safety Car (ESC) prototype used a primitive version of today’s technology provided by Mitsubishi Electric. 

6.5 (1972)

It consisted of a 6.5mm Cosmicar lens installed between the tail lights and a television-like screen on the dashboard. It worked but Volvo decided not to build it for cost and styling reasons. Cameras are common today, and they’ll soon be mandatory in the US, but they’re considerably more compact than the one on the back of Volvo’s prototype.

55 (1974)

The American government passed the National Maximum Speed Law (NMSL) in response to the fuel shortages caused by the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo. It made 55mph the maximum speed limit across the entire nation, though a few states went as far as enforcing a 50mph limit. 65mph became permissible in some areas in 1987 but the NMSL remained in effect until Bill Clinton repealed it in 1995.

12,870,000 (1978)

Sales of American-made cars peaked at 12.87 million units in 1978. That number nose-dived to 6.95 million as foreign-owned car brands like Honda and Toyota got a secure foothold in America. The number of cars made in the US has hovered around 12 million in recent years but it has never topped the high-water mark reached in 1978.

22 (1982)

In 1982, American officials arrested John Z. DeLorean, the founder of the eponymous auto-maker, after claiming he had accepted to sell 55 pounds (25kg) of cocaine to save his floundering company. The trial lasted 22 weeks. The court ultimately acquitted DeLorean of all charges in 1984 but DeLorean Motor Company had filed for bankruptcy in 1982 after building fewer than 10,000 cars.

202.6 (1987)

In 1986, a Porsche 959 Touring hit a top speed of 195mph, setting a record for street-legal production cars. The Ferrari F40 raced ahead a year later when it became the first car to break the 200mph barrier. Given enough tarmac, it reached a top speed of 202.6mph. The Jaguar XJ220, the McLaren F1 and the Bugatti Veyron are among the cars that subsequently beat the F40 in the top speed contest.

1,661,738 (1991)

Vehicle thefts in America peaked at 1,661,738 in 1991, according to the Department of Justice. That’s more than the number of new cars sold in Spain last year. While annual thefts went down during the 1990s, the number has increased since 2015. Last year, Americans reported 765,484 cars stolen. 

621 (1994)

Mercedes-Benz was a pioneer in self-driving technology. The company began looking for ways to make a car drive itself in 1986 as part of a joint program with European authorities. In 1994, an autonomous test car based on a W140-generation S-Class achieved a 621-mile journey on public roads without any input from a human driver. It reached 80mph, it changed lanes and it even passed slower traffic.

21,529,464 (2003)

The very last Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the Puebla, Mexico, assembly line in July 2003. It was part of a commemorative series named Última Edición that was limited to 3000 cars. The final example marked the end of the Beetle’s 65-year long production run during which Volkswagen manufactured 21,529,464 units. It remains the world’s best-single-model car.

109,000 (2006)

In July 2006, a virtually unknown American start-up named Tesla Motors introduced its first car during an event held at the Santa Monica airport. The company couldn’t afford to design a convertible from scratch so it started with the Lotus Elise’ bones. All-electric, the original Tesla Roadster offered 288hp and 245 miles of range.

It cost $109,000, a daring proposal from a company that had never built a car before. Buyers trusted Tesla, against all odds, and the first batch of 100 cars was spoken for in less than a month. 

3,039,122 (2014)

Irvin Gordon’s 1966 Volvo P1800 holds the record for the highest mileage car in the world. He crossed the three million-mile mark in September 2013 and reached 3,039,122 miles not long after. He no longer drives the P1800 daily, however, and realistically doubts he’ll see four million miles on the odometer.

Gordon bought his P1800 new for $4150, which represents $31,373 today, after being frustrated with a series of unreliable Chevrolets. He remembers the Volvo’s price equaled a year’s salary at the time.

28,030,000 (2016)

Chinese motorists purchased 28.03 million cars in 2016, an increase of 13.7-percent over 2015. The jaw-dropping figure makes China the largest new car market in the world by a long shot. The US came in second place with 17.5 million new cars and light trucks sold that same year.

18 (2016)

Finding a new car with a stick-shift is becoming increasingly difficult in the US. That’s partially because only about 18-percent of American motorists know how to drive a car with a manual transmission, according to a recent survey. Only about five percent of new cars sold in America in 2016 came with three pedals, down from 25 percent in 1987.

66 (2030)

The European Union recently decided every car manufacturer needs to lower its fleet’s average CO2 emissions to 66g/km by 2030. It’s an ambitious target implemented to encourage companies from all over the automotive spectrum to invest in electric and electrified powertrains. In 2016, the average new car sold in Europe emitted 118g/km.