The Big Three have lost much of their influence since 1960
- The carmakers that are called the "Big Three", because they are the three largest American groups (GM, Ford, Chrysler) and because they were the three largest carmakers in the world between the 1930s and 1960s, still represent today 40% of automobile sales in the United States (PCs including pick-ups and SUVs), compared to 90% in 1960, 83% in 1970, 74% in 1980, 72% in 1990 and 70% in 2000.
- The decline in their influence was accentuated in the 2000s, their market share having shrunk to 45% in 2010, following the financial crisis of 2008-2009 which caused the successive bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler.
- Saved narrowly by the American government for the GM group and by Fiat for the Chrysler group, these two carmakers have continued their activity, but in more modest proportions.
- This decline in the influence of the "Big Three" in the USA (in favour of Japanese and Korean brands) was accompanied by the end of several of their automobile brands, such as Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Saturn at GM, Edsel and Mercury at Ford, De Soto, Imperial and Plymouth at Chrysler, some of these brands having been phased out as early as the 1960s.
- It should be added that the former AMC group (4th American carmaker) was bought by the Chrysler group in 1987, which only kept the Jeep brand specializing in SUVs from this group. After the takeover of Chrysler by Fiat, it was decided to separate Dodge pick-ups from Dodge passenger cars and thus created the Ram brand specializing in pick-ups. In 2021, the Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) group merged with the Peugeot-Citroën (PSA) group to create the Stellantis group.