Some 270 million vehicles were registered in the United States in 2017. The figures include passenger cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and other vehicles.

U.S. vehicle registrations

Second only to China, the United States is one of the world’s largest automobile markets based on the number of new light vehicle registrations, with around 17.55 million new light vehicle registrations in 2017. However, of the 68.6 million passenger cars produced worldwide in 2017, less than four million automobiles were produced in the U.S.

While the United States imports a significant amount of vehicles from various countries such as Japan, Mexico and Canada, passenger car assembly within the country increased from some 2.2 million units produced in 2009 to a little under four million units in 2017. Toyota and BMW are the leading carmakers selling imported cars in the United States.

The leading car manufacturers overall in the United States include the Detroit Big Three automakers: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler; today, Chrysler is fully owned by Fiat though. With respect to car brands, the Ford brand clocked in at number one in 2017, selling around 2.5 million vehicles in the United States alone. The brand’s holding company is the Ford Motor Company; it was founded by Henry Ford in 1903 in Dearborn, Michigan. The company pioneered in large-scale car manufacturing and introduced production methods such as the assembly line. Ford is one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers, with 2016 revenue of just under 152 billion U.S. dollars.