Passenger vehicles in the United States

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American vehicles

Since 2009, the United States is home to the second largest passenger vehicle market of any country in the world, second to China. Overall, there were an estimated 263.6 million registered vehicles in the United States in 2015, most of which were passenger vehicles. This number, along with the average age of vehicles, has increased steadily since 1960. The United States is also home to three large vehicle manufacturers: General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler, which have historically been referred to as the "Big Three". Cars became popular in the U. S. after the introduction of the Ford Model T in 1908, and experienced a further increase in popularity after the construction of the Interstate Highway System and the suburbanization of the United States in the 1950s. In the 21st century, large SUVs have become popular in the U. S., leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and pedestrian deaths. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration writes and enforces the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The United States is commonly regarded as a car centric country, with cars being a dominant American mode of transport. U. S. infrastructure and road rules tend to privilege cars over other road users such as cyclists and pedestrians. Cars have been a major component of American culture, particularly since the 1950s.

The United States Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration as well as the National Automobile Dealers Association have published data in regard to the total number of vehicles, growth trends, and ratios between licensed drivers, the general population, and the increasing number of vehicles on American roads. Overall passenger vehicles have been outnumbering licensed drivers since 1972 at an ever increasing rate, while light trucks and vehicles manufactured by foreign makes have gained a larger share of the automotive market in the United States. In 2001, 70% of Americans drove to work in cars. New York City is the only locality in the country where more than half of all households do not own a car (the figure is even higher in Manhattan, over 75%; nationally, the rate is 8%). According to cumulative data (All italics added for emphasis.)

In the year 2001, the National Automobile Dealers Association conducted a study revealing the average age of vehicles in operation in the US. The study found that of vehicles in operation in the US, 38.3% were older than ten years, 22.3% were between seven and ten years old, 25.8% were between three and six years old, and 13.5% were less than two years old. According to this study the majority of vehicles, 60.6%, of vehicles were older than seven years in 2001. This relatively high age of automobiles in the US might be explained by unaffordable prices for comparable new replacement vehicles and a corresponding gradual decline in sales figures since 1998. Also, many Americans own three or more vehicles. The low marginal cost of registering and insuring additional older vehicles, many of which are rarely used, could cause the study to be skewed as these vehicles are still given full weight in the statistics. The median and mean age of automobiles has steadily increased since 1969. In 2007, the overall median age for automobiles was 9.4 years, a significant increase over 1990 when the median age of vehicles in operation in the US was 6.5 years and 1969 when the mean age for automobiles was 5.1 years. Of all body styles, pick up trucks had the highest mean age in 2001 (9.4 years), followed by cars with a mean age of 8.4 years and van with a mean age of 7.0 years. As SUVs are part of a relatively new consumer trend originating mostly in the 1990s, SUVs had the lowest mean age of any body style in the US (6.1 years). The average recreational vehicle was even older with a mean age of 12.5. For all body styles the mean vehicle age increased fairly steadily from 1969 to 2001. While the age has increased the number of service/repairs has remained the same at 4.2 times per year. That number took a decline in 2010 to 3.6. This number includes the effect of the 2009 Car Allowance Rebate System program, also known as "Cash for Clunkers", in which approximately 850,000 vehicles were bought and scrapped by the federal government.

In the year 2009, in the largest decline during economic crisis, fewer than 6 million new passenger cars were sold in the United States, and the total number of new sold and leased cars and light trucks dropped to just above 13 million from a normal pre crisis level of 20 million.

In July 2004, Edmunds. com published a report stating that the average sticker price on a vehicle sold in the United States was $29,746. However, in the US, passenger vehicles are commonly sold at considerable discounts and customers rarely pay the sticker price or MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price). Overall, the average discount in July 2004 was $4,982 (16.8%), meaning that while the average MSRP was almost $30,000, the average buyer of a new car paid only $24,764. From the late 1970s, American automobile manufacturers drastically downsized their cars. Only a few vehicles, such as those using the Ford Panther platform retained their original size. With fuel prices returning to 1960s levels, many American manufacturers again increased the size of their vehicles in the 1990s. In 2020 the average light duty automobile, including light trucks, in the US had a fuel economy rating of 23.0 MPG or 10.2 liters per 100 kilometers. The average fuel economy for passenger vehicles in the United States remained stagnant throughout the 1990s and 2000s, peaking in 2001 and 2004. The 90s saw the slowest increase in fuel economy since 1960, with fuel economy increasing from 16.4 MPG in 1990 to 16.9 MPG in 2001. This is in contrast to the 1980s when the average fuel economy improved somewhat more significantly from 13.3 MPG in 1980 to 16.4 MPG in 1990.

Mainstream mid size sedans such as the Chevrolet Malibu or Ford Fusion are often perceived to be the typical and most common body style in the United States. While mid size sedans are indeed among the country's best selling vehicles, pick up trucks held the top positions until mid 2008, rivaling sedans in the terms of total numbers sold. In the year 2006, the best selling models were the Ford F Series with 796,039 units sold and the Chevrolet Silverado with 636,069 units sold. The Toyota Camry, Dodge Ram, and Honda Accord held the next three positions as the best selling cars. Rising oil prices stripped pick up trucks of the " Best selling vehicle type" title in mid 2008. The Toyota Corolla currently holds the title. By September 2017 sales of new crossover utility vehicles exceeded the combined sales of traditional cars such as sedans, hatchbacks, and sports cars.

Passenger vehicles miles traveled in the United States are included in the VMT statistics. According to some data, Americans' cars are driven at least twice as much as those of European countries, in VMT units. Americans cars have transported 3,235,752 million Passenger Miles in the US, in 2006, according to the DoT (against 4,678 billion passenger kilometers in the EU 27). In the US, car occupancy, is near of 1.7 people per car (against around 1.5 occupant(s) by car in EU).

The US was the largest producer of vehicles in the world in 2003, followed by Japan and Germany. While most vehicles sold in the US were manufactured by the Big Three, foreign corporations such as Japan's Toyota Motor Company have starting manufacturing in the US and are now an integrated part of the US automobile industry. According to many sources, the extended US operations of foreign based companies now rival those of American automobile manufacturers. For example, Toyota Motor Company now operates twelve manufacturing plants in the US, producing 1.55 million vehicles, 61.66% of the roughly 2.5 million vehicles the company sells in the US each year. A wide variety of vehicles are manufactured in the United States, from compact cars to full size luxury vehicles. The American automobile industry itself is probably best known for the manufacture of large cars, leading to the common public perception of American cars being larger than those from other countries and making the US well known for the production of so called land yachts.

"The Big Three" refers to the three largest automobile manufacturers headquartered in the United States. While there have been roughly 1,800 car manufacturers in the US over the course of the 20th century, only three large corporations with considerable sales numbers were left by the 1980s. The term is applied to General Motors, the Ford Motor Company, and FCA US.

See Mercedes Benz U. S. International for more detailed description
In 1997, a year before the merger of Damiler Benz and Chrysler, the former Daimler Benz followed the steps of their Bavarian competitor and opened a plant in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, to serve as a worldwide production location for the new M Class. The M Class has since then been replaced by a new generation and joined by the new R Class and GL Class, also manufactured exclusively in Alabama.

See Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. for more detailed description
Subaru teamed up with fellow Japanese manufacturer Isuzu, forming a joint venture called Subaru Isuzu Automotive to build and operate a manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Indiana. The plant made Subaru cars and Isuzu SUVs mostly for the American market until 2003, when Isuzu, facing faltering sales in America, decided to quit the venture selling their share to Subaru for $1 million. The plant continued to build Isuzu Rodeos under contract until the end of that vehicle's production run. From then on, the production was limited to Subaru models such as Legacy and its derivatives Outback and Baja, as well as the new B9 Tribeca. The two latter models are only built in Indiana for all markets where they are sold. After Toyota acquired a stake in Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, it shifted some of the Toyota Camry production to the Lafayette plant.

These makes from the Big Three are currently marketed in the U. S.

Some passenger vehicles from the following import makes are currently assembled in the U. S.

The following makes are currently imported to the U. S., and not assembled domestically.

Safety of people using passenger vehicles is one topic of transportation safety in the United States.