Number: RL32883
Title: U.S. Automotive Industry: Policy Overview and Recent History
Authors: Stephen Cooney and Brent D. Yacobucci, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: From a once-dominant position in the domestic market, the Big Three today produce less than 60% of all automobiles and light trucks sold in the United States. Their market share has been steadily declining. The Big Three developed a consumer-oriented light truck product, the "sports utility vehicle" (SUV), which market they still dominate, but Japanese and German-based manufacturers have been making major inroads in this class as well. Moreover, to some critics the Big Three have been on the wrong side of every environmental, safety and social issue, from opposition to the Clean Air Act, corporate average fuel economy ("CAFE") standards, and mandatory seat belt requirements in the 1960s and 1970s, to slowness in developing alternative fuel vehicles today.
Pages: 102
Date: April 25, 2005