The U.S. Auto Industry is a Leader in Research & Development

Automakers and their suppliers are the world’s third biggest investor in R&D. 

Designing and producing autos is a massive engineering challenge, which is why automakers and their suppliers invest approximately $130 billion in R&D each year – behind only pharmaceuticals and technology hardware.

 

 

American Automakers are Leaders in Research & Development and Innovation

In the U.S., automakers and their suppliers invested approximately $23 billion in 2018, representing approximately $1,333 of R&D for each car sold here that year, on average.

Over the past decade, automaker R&D has driven braking technology from anti-lock brakes (which help a driver brake faster) to electronic stability control (which keeps a vehicle moving safely when the driver has lost control), to automated emergency steering systems (which control braking, steering, and throttle functions)

Meanwhile, research into the use of new materials, better joining (welding, fasteners, adhesives), and fabrication could reduce a vehicle’s body weight by 10% to 20% from 2014 through 2020.

FCA, Ford, and General Motors each spend more per year than General Electric, Boeing, AT&T, and Tesla.

 

 

 

  • Ford projects rise in four-cylinder vehicle sales

    Automobiles with four-cylinder engines already comprise more than half of U.S. new-vehicle sales, and that number could grow to two-thirds by the end of the decade, according to projections by Ford Motor Co.

    The shift to the smaller engines is a result of strict federal fuel-efficiency standards — known as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE — and means a growing share of cars, SUVs and trucks will join the four-cylinder fray by 2020.

     

  • Buick: The American icon that helped birth GM

    DETRIOT - On the southwest corner of Beaubien and Lafayette streets in Detroit, there’s a large brick building occupied by restaurants and bars.

    To most, it’s a place to have dinner or grab a drink after work. But that corner, like many in the Motor City, has a historical footprint of how Detroit "put the world on wheels."

  • A Truck Tailgate Party: Fire Up the Grilles

    The look of its pickup trucks is so important that General Motors put its best man on the job: the guy who does the Corvettes. Fresh from the task of designing the 2014 Stingray, Tom Peters took on the task of freshening up — and toughening up — the Chevrolet Silverado and its fraternal twin, the GMC Sierra.

    “A fist in the wind” is how Mr. Peters describes the pickups’ design.

  • GM Opens Data Center - Analyst Blog

    General Motors Company ( GM ) unveiled a state-of-the-art enterprise data center at Warren, Mich. The company invested $130 million for this data center, which will act as the computing backbone for the automaker.