Here in one info-packed animation is the history of global auto production by country  from 1950 to 2016.

In this animated infographic, a tremendous amount of information has been packed into just six short minutes. In a nutshell, here we have the history of global auto industry competition from 1950 to 2019, spelling out the winners, the losers, and the also-rans. As the moving bar graph clocks through the years and nations, there are a number of insights and a few revelations:

+  In global auto production, Japan surpassed the United States earlier than many Americans may remember it, in 1975-76. However, the USA retook the number one spot in 1995 and held it until 2006, when China swept past both countries to claim the top spot and the USA slipped back to second.

+   In 1957, only 12 short years after the end of World War II, Germany overtook the United Kingdom for second place, albeit a distant second with 1.5 million vehicles produced versus nearly 8 million for the USA.

+   The Peoples’ Republic of China did not enter the top 10 until 1998, but then it  quickly leapfrogged through the standings, taking the topmost 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 USA, the next largest producer.

Of course, the major automakers of today are multinational corporations with numerous international joint ventures, so the auto industry of the 21st century is a small world, but a complicated one. Thanks to Data Z, the YouTube statistics channel, for producing this neat video, and to our friend and fellow auto writer Jamie Kitman for turning us on to it. See how many interesting trends you can spot.