The Big Three will only represent 38% of the US market in 2024
- The American brands of the Big Three (GM, Ford, Stellantis) still accounted for more than 80% of new car sales in the United States in the early 1970s, with imports mainly represented by the Volkswagen Beetle, a few Japanese brands and a few European brands. This level was much lower than that recorded by American brands in the 1950s and 1960s, but had continued to decline over the following decades. From 83% of the US market in 1970, the share of the Big Three had gradually fallen to 74% in 1980, 72% in 1990, 70% in 2000, then this decline would become more pronounced in the early 2000s (this was the time of the end of the high-volume brands Plymouth and Oldsmobile). In 2010, the share of the Big Three went gradually to 45%, which cause the end of the Mercury, Pontiac and Saturn brands.
- At the same time, the share of foreign carmakers (especially Japanese) had increased from 30% in 2000 to 55% in 2010 of the US market, representing for the first time more than one in two sales. It is especially in the sedan category that foreign predominance will be affirmed and this is the reason why the Big Three had left this category of vehicles in the early 2020s.
- Between 2010 and 2020, the Big Three tried to resist with a market share flowing around 44-45% of the US market. But the following years marked by the Big Three cancelling sedans in favour of SUVs and pickups saw their market share falling below the 40% mark to 39% in 2023 and 38% in 2024. Luckily for the Big Three, their dominance in the pickup category remains very strong, but in the SUV category it seems more fragile.
- The new American brands (Tesla, Rivian, Lucid) began to develop after 2015, but their market share never reached 5% (4.2% in 2024 including 3.8% for Tesla) and are not yet offsetting the fall of the former Big three.