The Automobile Manufacturers Association was a trade group of

automobile manufacturer The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % ...

s which operated under various names in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

from 1911 to 1999. A different group called the Automobile Manufacturers' Association was active in the very early 1900s, but then dissolved. Another early group was the

Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers The Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM), began as the Manufacturer's Mutual Association (MMA), an organization originally formed to challenge the litigation of the fledgling automobile industry by George B. Selden and the Ele ...

, formed in 1903 and which was involved in licensing and collecting royalties from the George Baldwin Selden engine patent.

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

effectively defeated the patent in court in 1911 and the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers dissolved. However, the same manufacturers regrouped later in 1911 and formed the Automobile Board of Trade. In 1913, this became the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. In 1934, this group renamed itself to the Automobile Manufacturers Association. This was the name the group had the longest and became the best known by. It focused upon establishing a code for fair competition. In 1939, it moved its headquarters from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where it had been close to bankers, to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, where the manufacturers were all based. The organization had a budget of $1 million at the time. During the early stages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the association played a role in adapting American automotive manufacturing capabilities towards arms production efforts, especially regarding large aircraft engines.Mahoney, ''The Story of George Romney'', pp. 110–114, 120. Within hours of the December 7, 1941

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii ...

, the association invited all companies in the larger

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % ...

, regardless of whether they were association members, to join a new cooperative undertaking, the Automotive Council for War Production. Some 654 manufacturing companies joined, and produced nearly $29 billion in output, including tremendous numbers of motorized vehicles, tanks, engines, and other products for the Allied military forces. Between a fifth and a quarter of all U.S. wartime production was accounted for by the automotive industry. In 1950, the association published the book, ''Freedom's Arsenal: The Story of the Automotive Council for War Production'', to document this achievement. Following the

1955 Le Mans disaster The 1955 Le Mans disaster was a major crash that occurred on 11 June 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit de la Sarthe in Le Mans, Sarthe, France. Large pieces of debris flew into the crowd, killing 83 spectators and Frenc ...

and the 1957 NASCAR Mercury Meteor crashes into the grandstands, the Automobile Manufacturers Association placed a ban on factory-supported racing. As a result, the automotive industry essentially disappeared from the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The ban began to end in 1962 when

Henry Ford II Henry Ford II (September 4, 1917 – September 29, 1987), sometimes known as "Hank the Deuce", was an American businessman in the automotive industry. He was the oldest son of Edsel Ford I and oldest grandson of Henry Ford I. He was president ...

announced that the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

would again begin participating openly in NASCAR. In August 1972, the group changed its name to the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, to reflect the growing importance of truck makers. A major issue then developed over whether foreign-owned automakers with operations and in some cases manufacturing within the U.S. could join the group. In 1986 the association ruled that foreign transplants had to manufacture half their American sales within the country in order to join; a grandfather clause allowed

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

and

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

to stay in. In May 1988, Toyota's attempt to join was rejected on this line. By 1992, Toyota and Nissan were able to meet the membership mark and qualify to join. In late 1992, the group expelled Honda, Volvo, and heavy truck makers and changed its name to the American Automobile Manufacturers Association. The association now was back to its traditional stance of representing the "Big Three" manufacturers. They also moved their headquarters from Detroit to Washington, D.C., in order to have a stronger governmental presence. However, their situation became problematic with the DaimlerChrysler merger of 1998, which meant there were only two American-only manufacturers, too few for an organization. The American Automobile Manufacturers Association was thus phased out in January 1999, and a new and different successor group, the

Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers The Auto Alliance (AAM) is a defunct trade group of automobile manufacturers that operated in the United States. It was the leading advocacy group for the auto industry, representing 77% of all car and light truck sales in the United States. The ...

, was formed and included many foreign-owned manufacturers.

References

{{reflist, 2 Automobile associations in the United States Organizations established in 1911 Organizations disestablished in 1999

See also

References