A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land

vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...

, commonly

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...

ed, that does not operate on

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

s (such as

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

s or

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

s) and is used for the transportation of people or

cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

. The

vehicle propulsion Propulsion is the generation of force by any combination of pushing or pulling to modify the translational motion of an object, which is typically a rigid body (or an articulated rigid body) but may also concern a fluid. The term is derived fro ...

is provided by an

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

or motor, usually an

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...

or an

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

, or some combination of the two, such as

hybrid electric vehicle A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle that combines a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) system with an electric propulsion system ( hybrid vehicle drivetrain). The presence of the electric powertrain is intende ...

s and

plug-in hybrid A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is a hybrid electric vehicle whose battery pack can be recharged by plugging a charging cable into an external electric power source, in addition to internally by its on-board internal combustion engin ...

s. For legal purpose, motor vehicles are often identified within a number of vehicle classes including cars,

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es,

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with de ...

light truck Light truck or light-duty truck is a US classification for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight up to and a payload capacity up to 4,000 pounds (1,815 kg). Similar goods vehicle classes in the European Union, Canada, Australia, and New Zealan ...

s and regular

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

s. These classifications vary according to the legal codes of each country.

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

3833:1977 is the standard for road vehicle types, terms and definitions. Generally, to avoid requiring people with disabilities from having to possess an operator's license to use one, or requiring tags and insurance, powered

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

s will be specifically excluded by law from being considered motor vehicles. , there were more than one billion motor vehicles in use in the world, excluding off-road vehicles and heavy construction equipment. The US publisher

Ward's Ward's is an American organization that has covered the automotive industry for over 80 years. The organization is responsible for several publications including, ''Ward's AutoWorld'', and ''Ward's Dealer Business''. Ward's also publish the an ...

estimates that as of 2019, there were 1.4 billion motor vehicles in use in the world. Global vehicle ownership

per capita ''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person". The term is used in a wide variety of social sciences and statistical research contexts, including government statistic ...

in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation (VIO) per 1000 people. China has the largest motor vehicle fleet in the world, with 322 million motor vehicles registered at the end of September 2018. The United States has the highest vehicle ownership

in the world, with 832 vehicles in operation per 1000 people in 2016. Also, China became the world's largest new car market in 2009. In 2011, a total of 80 million cars and commercial vehicles were built, led by China which built a total of 18.4 million motor vehicles.

Definitions and terminology

In 1968 the

Vienna Convention on Road Traffic The Convention on Road Traffic, commonly known as the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, is an international treaty designed to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety by establishing standard traffic rules among the co ...

gave one of the first international definitions of a motor vehicle: Other sources might provide other definitions, for instance in the year 1977, ISO 3833:1977 provide other definitions.

Ownership trends

The US publisher

estimates that as of 2010, there were 1.015 billion motor vehicles in use in the world. This figure represents the number of cars, trucks (light, medium and heavy duty), and buses, but does not include

off-road vehicles An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of off-roading, driving on and off Pavement (material), paved or gravel surface. It is generally characteri ...

or heavy construction equipment. The world vehicle population passed the 500 million-unit mark in 1986, from 250 million motor vehicles in 1970. Between 1950 and 1970, the vehicle population doubled roughly every 10 years.

Navigant Consulting Navigant Consulting, Inc. was an American management consultancy firm. It had offices in Asia, Europe and North America; the head office was in Chicago, Illinois. The stock was a component of the S&P 600 index. Navigant was acquired by Guidehou ...

forecasts that the global stock of light-duty motor vehicles will reach 2 billion units in 2035. Global vehicle ownership in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation per 1000 people, a ratio of 1:6.75 vehicles to people, slightly down from 150 vehicles per 1000 people in 2009, a rate of 1:6.63 vehicles to people. The global rate of motorization increased in 2013 to 174 vehicles per 1000 people. In

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

vehicle ownership rates rarely exceed 200 cars per 1,000 population. The following table summarizes the evolution of motor vehicle registrations in the world from 1960 to 2019: ;Alternative fuels and vehicle technology adoption Global plug-in car sales since 2011

Since the early 2000s, the number of

alternative fuel vehicle An alternative fuel vehicle is a motor vehicle that runs on alternative fuel rather than traditional petroleum fuels (petrol or petrodiesel). The term also refers to any technology (e.g. electric car, hybrid electric vehicles, solar-powered ...

s has been increasing driven by the interest of several governments to promote their widespread adoption through public subsidies and other non-financial incentives. Governments have adopted these policies due to a combination of factors, such as

environmental concerns Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...

, high oil prices, and less dependence on imported oil. Among the fuels other than traditional

petroleum fuel Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

s (

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and t ...

), and alternative technologies for powering the engine of a motor vehicle, the most popular options promoted by different governments are:

natural gas vehicle A natural gas vehicle (NGV) is an alternative fuel vehicle that uses compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG). Natural gas vehicles should not be confused with autogas vehicles powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ma ...

s, LPG powered vehicles, flex-fuel vehicles, use of

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (E ...

s, electric cars, and hydrogen fuel cell cars. Since the late 2000s, China, European countries, the United States, Canada, Japan and other developed countries have been providing strong financial incentives to promote the adoption of

plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...

. , the stock of light-duty plug-in vehicles in use totaled over 10 million units. ''Global sales of plug-ins cars totaled 3 million in 2020, 43% up from 2018. The market share of plug-in vehicles reached 4.2% of the global market, up from 2.5% in 2019. Tesla was the best selling brand with almost 500,000 units delivered. '' , in addition, the medium and heavy commercial segments add another 700,000 units to the global stock of plug-in electric vehicles. ''At the end of 2019 the global fleet of plug-ins was 7,5 million, counting light vehicles. Medium and heavy commercial vehicles add another 700 000 units to the global stock of plug-ins.'' In 2020 the global market share of plug-in passenger car sales was 4.2%, up from 2.5% in 2019. Nevertheless, despite government support and the rapid growth experienced, the plug-in electric car segment represented just about 1 out of every 250 vehicles (0.4%) on the world's roads by the end of 2018.

China

The People's Republic of China had 322 million motor vehicles in use at the end of September 2018, of which, 235 million were passenger cars in 2018, making China the country with largest motor vehicle fleet in the world. ''The number of passenger cars in use in China totaled 235 million units as of the end of September 2018, of which, 2.21 million units new energy cars'' In 2016, the motor vehicle fleet consisted of 165.6 million cars and 28.4 million trucks and buses. About 13.6 million vehicles were sold in 2009, and motor vehicle registrations in 2010 increased to more than 16.8 million units, representing nearly half the world's fleet increase in 2010. Ownership per capita rose from 26.6 vehicles per 1000 people in 2006 to 141.2 in 2016. The stock of highway-legal plug-in electric or

new energy vehicles in China The stock of new energy vehicles in China is the world's largest, with cumulative sales of 5.5 million units through December 2020. These figures include passenger cars and heavy-duty commercial vehicles such buses and sanitation trucks, and ...

totaled 2.21 million units by the end of September 2018, of which, 81% are all-electric vehicles. These figures include heavy-duty commercial vehicles such buses and sanitation trucks, which represent about 11% of the total stock. China is also the world's largest electric bus market, reaching about 385,000 units by the end of 2017. ''Click on "Download File" to get the full report, 15 pp.'' ''See pp. 4–5, and 24–25 and Statistical annex, pp. 34–37''. The number of cars and motorcycles in China increased 20 times between 2000 and 2010. This explosive growth has allowed China to become the world's largest new car market, overtaking the US in 2009. Nevertheless, ownership per capita is 58 vehicles per 1000 people, or a ratio of 1:17.2 vehicles to people, still well below the rate of motorization of

developed countries A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruct ...

United States

The United States has the second largest fleet of motor vehicles in the world after China. , had a motor vehicles stock of 259.14 million, of which, 246 million were light duty vehicles, consisting of 112.96 million passenger cars and 133 million light trucks (includes

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

s). A total of 11.5 million heavy trucks were registered at the end 2016 ''See Quick Facts and Tables 3.4 through 3.11'' Vehicle ownership

in the U.S. is also the highest in the world, the U.S. Department of Energy (USDoE) reports a motorization rate of 831.9 vehicles in operation per 1000 people in 2016, or a ratio of 1:1.2 vehicles to people. According to USDoE, the rate of motorization peaked in 2007 at 844.5 vehicles per 1000 people. In terms of licensed drivers, as of 2009 the country had 1.0 vehicle for every licensed driver, and 1.87 vehicles per household. See Table 8.5 Passenger car registrations in the United States declined -11.5% in 2017 and -12.8% in 2018. , the stock of

s in the United States included over 20 million flex-fuel cars and light trucks, the world's second largest

flexible-fuel A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) or dual-fuel vehicle (colloquially called a flex-fuel vehicle) is an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel, usually gasoline blended with either ethanol or ...

fleet in the world after

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. However, actual use of

ethanol fuel Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. The first production car running entirely on ethanol was t ...

is significantly limited due to the lack of

E85 E85 is an abbreviation typically referring to an ethanol fuel blend of 85% ethanol fuel and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume. In the United States, the exact ratio of fuel ethanol to hydrocarbon may vary according to ASTM 5798 that ...

refueling infrastructure. Regarding the electrified segment, the fleet of

hybrid electric vehicles in the United States The fleet of hybrid electric vehicles in the United States, with 5.8 million units sold through December 2020, is the second largest in the world after Japan (7.51 million by March 2018). American sales of hybrid electric vehicles rep ...

is the second largest in the world after Japan, with more than four million units sold through April 2016. Since the introduction of the Tesla Roadster electric car in 2008, cumulative sales of highway legal

plug-in electric vehicles in the U.S. The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the United States is supported by the American federal government, and several states and local governments. , cumulative sales in the U.S. totaled 2.32 million highway legal plug-in electric ...

passed one million units in September 2018. The U.S. stock of plug-in vehicles is the second largest after

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(2.21 million by September 2018). , the country's fleet also includes more than 160,000

s, mainly transit buses and delivery fleets. Despite its relative small size, natural gas use accounted for about 52% of all alternative fuels consumed by alternative transportation fuel vehicles in the U.S. in 2009. In the US a motor vehicle is specifically defined as a contrivance used for commercial purposes. As defined in US Code 18 U.S.C. § 31 : US Code - Section 31: Definitions (6) Motor vehicle. - The term "motor vehicle" means every description of carriage or other contrivance propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used for commercial purposes on the highways in the transportation of passengers, passengers and property, or property or cargo.

Europe

The 27 European Union (EU-27) member countries had a fleet of over 256 million in 2008, and passenger cars accounted for 87% of the union's fleet. The five largest markets, Germany (17.7%), Italy (15.4%), France (13.3%), the UK (12.5%), and Spain (9.5%), accounted for 68% of the region's total registered fleet in 2008. The EU-27 member countries had in 2009 an estimated ownership rate of 473 passenger cars per 1000 people. According to Ward's, Italy had the second highest (after the U.S.) vehicle ownership per capita in 2010, with 690 vehicles per 1000 people. Germany had a rate of motorization of 534 vehicles per 1000 people and the UK of 525 vehicles per 1000 people, both in 2008. France had a rate of 575 vehicles per 1000 people and Spain 608 vehicles per 1000 people in 2007. Portugal, between 1991 and 2002 grew up 220% on its motorization rate, having had in 2002, 560 cars per 1000 people. Italy also leads in

s, with a fleet of 779,090 natural gas vehicles , the largest NGV fleet in Europe. Sweden, with 225,000 flexible-fuel vehicles, has the largest flexifuel fleet in Europe by mid-2011. ''See Graph "Bought flexifuel vehicles"'' More than one million plug-in electric passenger cars and vans have been registered in Europe by June 2018, the world's second largest regional plug-in stock after China. "European sales totaled 306,143 plug-in cars in 2017." Norway is the leading plug-in market in Europe with almost 500,000 units registered . ''Place the pointing device over the graph to show the cumulative number of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in Norway at the end of each year. , the registered light-duty plug-in electric stock totaled 296,214 units, consisting of 200,192 battery electric vehicles and 96,022 plug-in hybrids.'' In October 2018, Norway became the world's first country where 10% of all passenger cars on the road are plug-in electrics. Also, the Norwegian plug-in car segment

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...

has been the highest in the world for several years, achieving 39.2% in 2017, 49.1% in 2018, and 74.7% in 2020.

Japan

Japan had 73.9 million vehicles by 2010, and had the world's second largest motor vehicle fleet until 2009. , the registered motor vehicle fleet totaled 75.81 million vehicles consisting of 61,40 million cars and 14,41 million trucks and buses. Japan has the largest

fleet in the world. , there were 7.51 million hybrids registered in the country, excluding

kei car Kei car (or , kanji: , "light automobile", ), known variously outside Japan as Japanese city car or Japanese microcar, is the Japanese vehicle category for the smallest highway-legal passenger cars with restricted dimensions and engine capacit ...

s, and representing 19.0% of all passenger cars on the road.

Brazil

The Brazilian vehicle fleet reached 64.8 million vehicles in 2010, up from 29.5 million units in 2000, representing a 119% growth in ten years, and reaching a motorization rate of 340 vehicles per 1000 people. In 2010 Brazil experienced the second largest fleet increase in the world after China, with 2.5 million vehicle registrations. , Brazil has the largest alternative fuel vehicle fleet in the world with about 40 million alternative fuel motor vehicles in the road. The clean vehicle stock includes 30.5 million flexible-fuel cars and light utility vehicles and over 6 million flex-fuel

s by March 2018; between 2.4 and 3.0 million

neat ethanol vehicle The history of ethanol fuel in Brazil dates from the 1970s and relates to Brazil's sugarcane-based ethanol fuel program, which allowed the country to become the world's second largest producer of ethanol, and the world's largest exporter. Sever ...

s still in use, out of 5.7 million ethanol only light-vehicles produced since 1979;'' pp. 60-61''. and, , a total of 1.69 million natural gas vehicles. In addition, all the Brazilian gasoline-powered fleet is designed to operate with high ethanol blends, up to 25%

( E25). This decree fixed the mandatory blend at 25% starting July 1, 2007 See article 9º and modifications approved by Law Nº 10.696, 2003-07-02 increasing the upper limit to 25% The

of flex fuel vehicles reached 88.6% of all light-duty vehicles registered in 2017.

India

India's vehicle fleet had the second-largest growth rate after China in 2010, with 8.9%. The fleet went from 19.1 million in 2009 to 20.8 million units in 2010. India's vehicle fleet has increased to 210 million in March 2015. India has a fleet of 1.1 million natural gas vehicles .

Australia

As of January 2011, the Australian motor vehicle fleet had 16.4 million registered vehicles, with an ownership rate of 730 motor vehicles per 1000 people, up from 696 vehicles per 1000 residents in 2006. The motor vehicle fleet grew 14.5% since 2006, for an annual rate of 2.7% during this five-year period.

Comparison by regions

The following table compares vehicle ownership rates by region with the US, the country with the highest motorization rate in the world, and how it has evolved from 1999 to 2016.

Production by country

In 2017, a total of 97.3 million cars and commercial vehicles were built worldwide, led by China, with about 29 million motor vehicles manufactured, followed by the United States with 11.2 million, and Japan with 9.7 million. The following table shows the top 15 manufacturing countries for 2017 and their corresponding annual production between 2004 and 2017.

References

External links

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