U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Vehicle Technologies Office

Fact #653: December 13, 2010
Import Cars and Trucks Gaining Ground

The market share for import cars and light trucks has been growing nearly every year since the mid-1990's. Import car market share more than doubled in that time -- from 14.9% in 1996 to 33.7% in 2009. Imports cars have a larger share of the market than import trucks, but import truck market share has nearly tripled since the mid-1990's. Import truck market share rose from 6.5% in 1994 to 17.9% in 2009.

Cars: Domestic vs. Import Market Share
Graph showing the U.S. market share of import and domestic cars from 1970 to 2009. For more detailed information, see supporting information below.
Light Trucks: Domestic vs. Import Market Share
Graph showing the U.S. market share of import and domestic light trucks from 1970 to 2009. For more detailed information, see supporting information below.

Supporting Information

Domestic and Import Retail Light Vehicle Sales in the U.S., 1970-2009
  Cars
(Thousands)		   Light Trucks
(Thousands)		  
Year Domestic Import Percent
Import		 Domestic Import Percent
Import
1970 7,119 1,280 15.2% 1,397 66 4.5%
1971 8,681 1,561 15.2% 1,673 84 4.8%
1972 9,327 1,614 14.8% 2,096 143 6.4%
1973 9,676 1,748 15.3% 2,512 233 8.5%
1974 7,454 1,399 15.8% 2,163 175 7.5%
1975 7,053 1,571 18.2% 2,053 228 10.0%
1976 8,611 1,499 14.8% 2,720 236 8.0%
1977 9,109 2,074 18.5% 3,108 322 9.4%
1978 9,312 2,002 17.7% 3,473 335 8.8%
1979 8,341 2,332 21.8% 2,844 467 14.1%
1980 6,580 2,369 26.5% 1,959 481 19.7%
1981 6,181 2,308 27.2% 1,745 444 20.3%
1982 5,757 2,200 27.6% 2,062 408 16.5%
1983 6,795 2,353 25.7% 2,518 466 15.6%
1984 7,952 2,372 23.0% 3,257 606 15.7%
1985 8,205 2,775 25.3% 3,691 767 17.2%
1986 8,215 3,189 28.0% 3,671 923 20.1%
1987 7,085 3,107 30.5% 3,785 825 17.9%
1988 7,543 3,004 28.5% 4,195 605 12.6%
1989 7,098 2,680 27.4% 4,108 502 10.9%
1990 6,919 2,384 25.6% 3,948 600 13.2%
1991 6,162 2,028 24.8% 3,595 528 12.8%
1992 6,286 1,927 23.5% 4,231 398 8.6%
1993 6,742 1,776 20.8% 4,987 364 6.8%
1994 7,255 1,735 19.3% 5,641 392 6.5%
1995 7,129 1,506 17.4% 5,660 393 6.5%
1996 7,255 1,271 14.9% 6,089 430 6.6%
1997 6,917 1,355 16.4% 6,226 571 8.4%
1998 6,762 1,380 16.9% 6,649 650 8.9%
1999 6,979 1,719 19.8% 7,306 767 9.5%
2000 6,831 2,016 22.8% 7,557 830 9.9%
2001 6,325 2,098 24.9% 7,717 983 11.3%
2002 5,878 2,226 27.5% 7,650 1,063 12.2%
2003 5,527 2,083 27.4% 7,731 1,207 13.5%
2004 5,396 2,149 28.5% 8,135 1,226 13.1%
2005 5,533 2,187 28.3% 8,056 1,225 13.2%
2006 5,476 2,345 30.0% 7,329 1,355 15.6%
2007 5,253 2,365 31.0% 7,082 1,389 16.4%
2008 4,535 2,278 33.4% 5,283 1,098 17.2%
2009 3,619 1,837 33.7% 4,060 885 17.9%

Note: Domestic includes all vehicles built in North America. Imports are units imported from outside North America.
Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 29, Tables 4.5 and 4.6..

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