In this animated 6-minute infographic, we see the history of global auto industry competition from 1950 to 2019, spelling out the winners and the losers. As the moving bar graph clocks through the years and 
nations, we have these observations:
+ In global auto production, Japan surpassed the U.S. in 1975, earlier than many may remember. But, the U.S. retook the number 1 spot in 1995 and held it until 2006, when China swept past both countries to claim the top spot and the U.S. slipped back to second.
+ In 1957, twelve years after the end of World War II, Germany overtook the U.K. for second place, albeit a distant second with 1.5 million vehicles produced versus nearly 8 million for the U.S.
+ China did not enter the top 10 until 1998, but then it quickly leapfrogged through the standings, taking the top slot in 2008 at 12 million units. Today, China is by far the world’s most prolific auto producer with more than 27 million cars, trucks, and buses built in 2019, 2.4 times as many as the U.S., the next largest producer. Note that Mexico is making an impressive rise in recent years.
The major automakers of today are multinational corporations with numerous international joint ventures, so the auto industry of the 21st century is a small, but a complicated world. This is an excellent video to show when discussing Global Operations Strategy Options in Chapter 2 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text.
What patterns can your students point out?