UpFront
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Editorial Staff Auto Industry Renaissance is Real I
f the US automotive industry hits popular forecasts of 16.4 million car and truck sales this year, it is likely that the number of vehicles built in North America will surpass 13 million in 2014—for the first time in nearly a decade. IHS Automotive, among others, estimates that US auto sales will hit a robust 16.4 million cars and trucks this year, up from the depressing low of 10.4 million in 2009. But it’s not just sales that have been gaining. The percentage of US-purchased vehicles that are also built in the US, Canada and Mexico has also been climbing since 2009, too, according to data from the Automotive News Data Center. The gain has been driven by the recovering Detroit Three automakers as well as foreign car makers, who make many models in North America now.
In the decade between 1999 and 2009, the percentage of vehicles purchased in the US that were also made in North America had declined from 85.4% to 73.9% of total sales, data from Automotive News shows. That 11.5-point drop represented a loss of 6.8 million cars and trucks—and it forced automakers to shutter factories and lay off tens of thousands of workers.
Since 2009, however, the needle has been moving in the other direction. During the past four years, US auto sales have grown by 5.2 million cars and trucks, and the number of purchased vehicles that are made in North America has grown by 4.6 million cars and trucks, Automotive News’ data shows. Through September, 79.6% of the cars and trucks purchased in the US were made in North America.
Manufacturers across the US have been bullish about the automotive recovery. It’s not just the growing manufacturing volumes that are causing excitement either. As you can see in our annual Motorized Vehicle Yearbook—available for free in our digital edition this month—tougher federal regulations on fuel economy and emissions are driving a total rethinking about the way cars and trucks are designed and manufactured. Recently, I was at Heller’s North American headquarters in Troy, MI, where I got a closer look at their innovative Cylinder Bore Coating (CBC) technology, which is a groundbreaking technique that will take weight out of automotive engines and make them more efficient by reducing friction in the cylinders. Of all the markets in which the German Heller does business around the world, the American market is increasingly looking like the sweet spot these days, Keith Vandenkieboom, President and CEO of Heller Machine Tools told me. The US auto industry, he said, is a major reason for that.
EDITOR IN CHIEF Sarah A. Webster 313-425-3252
swebster@sme.org
EXECUTIVE EDITOR James D. Sawyer 313-425-3053
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SENIOR EDITORS Michael C. Anderson 313-425-3258
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James A. Lorincz 440-779-6946
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Patrick Waurzyniak 313-425-3256
pwaurzyniak@sme.org
ASSISTANT EDITOR Katelyn DaMour 313-425-3251
ASSISTANT EDITOR Darlene M. Pietryka 313-425-3255
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Sarah A. Webster Editor in Chief
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ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | November 2014
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