- The Rate of diesel vehicles (share of diesel cars in total sales) in Europe continued to decline in 2013 and 2012. Indeed,  since 2012 sales of diesel cars have started to decline in Europe, brining the market share of these vehicles down (compared to petrol, hybrid engines and the electric cars).

- The share of sales of diesel cars in European sales as a whole hadn't stopped increasing since the 90s, except in 2009, when the rate fell to 47.5% due to scrappage schemes that promoted throughout Europe the sales of petrol cars from segments A and B.

- The rate of diesel vehicles in Europe has risen from 22.3% in 1996 to 55.7% in 2011 and fell back to 55.2% in 2012 and to 53.3% in 2013. All countries saw the rates of diesel cars decline in 2012 and 2013, except for Portugal, Italy and Greece.

- The decline in the share of diesel cars in most European countries is due to several factors: the decrease in kilometres travelled by drivers, the reduced gap between the price of petrol and diesel fuels, the decision made by carmakers to gradually abandon diesel engines on cars from segment A, the introduction of tougher pollution standards leading to a rise in the price of diesel cars compared to petrol cars and finally the technological advances that have improved the yields of petrol engines.

  

- Global automotive production increased by almost 4% in 2013 to 87 million vehicles. China remains by far the largest automobile producer (26% of total world production), followed by the USA (13%), Japan (11%) and Germany (7%). These four countries account for more than half of global production (57%).

- China and the United States benefit from the large volume of their respective markets (these two countries export few vehicles), while Japan and Germany benefit more from strong exports than sales on their domestic market.

- Behind these four leaders, Korea (5% of world production), India (5%), Brazil (4%), Mexico (3%) and Thailand (3%) are the most dynamic emerging countries worldwide.

- The European Union as a whole accounts for 18% of the world production, which is slightly less than the NAFTA region that includes the United States, Canada and Mexico (19% of world production).

- Compared to 2012, the ranking of the top 15 manufacturing countries of 2013 undergoes little change. The first eight are in the same order. Thailand moves from 10th to 9th place,  overtaking Canada. Russia remains 11th but France lost its 12th place to Spain. The UK remains in the 14th place and in 15th place, Indonesia replaces the Czech Republic. The production of countries of Southeast Asia are growing rapidly....

  

- Here are the top ten plants in the NAFTA zone (North America) in 2013:

  - 1st: the Ford plant in Dearborn (+14.5%).

  - 2nd: the Nissan plant in Smyrna (+25.4%).

  - 3rd: the Honda plant in East Liberty (-0.6%)

  - 4th: the GM plant in Ramos Arizpe (+13.5%).

  - 5th: the Toyota plant in Georgetown (+8.2%).

  - 6th: Chrysler plant in Toledo (12.7%).

  - 7th: the Volkswagen plant in Puebla (-1.0%).

  - 8th: the GM plant in Flint (13.0%).

  - 9th: the Honda plant in Marysville (10.9%).

  - 10th: the Honda plant in Alliston (+12.6%).

- The production of these 10 plants accounted for more than 6 million vehicles (PCs + LCVs) in 2013, i.e. 38% of the production in the NAFTA region.

It must be noted that only one Fords in the top ten (this plant located in Michigan is also on of Ford’s ancestral) while there are two GM plants (one in Mexico and the other in Michigan), three Honda plants, one Toyota plant, one Chrysler plant, one Nissan plant and one Volkswagen (in Mexico).

Three plants manufacture more than 700 000 vehicles per year:

Dearborn (Ford), Smyrna (Nissan) and East Liberty (Honda).