thumb|right|The United States has one of the world's highest rates of vehicle ownership [[per capita in the world, with 850 vehicles in operation (VIO) per 1000 people in 2022.]]
thumb|Electric bicycles parked in [[Yangzhou's main street, Wenchang Lu. They are a very common form of transport in this city, in some areas almost outnumbering regular bicycles.]]
thumb|British motorcycle manufacturer
A motor vehicle, also known as a motorized vehicle, automotive vehicle, automobile, or road vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on rails (such as trains or trams), does not fly (such as airplanes or helicopters), does not float on water (such as boats or ships), and is used for the transportation of people or cargo.
The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually a gasoline/diesel internal combustion engine or an electric traction motor, or some combination of the two as in hybrid electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles. For legal purposes, motor vehicles are often identified within many vehicle classes, including cars, buses, motorcycles, off-road vehicles, light trucks, and regular trucks. These classifications vary according to the legal codes of each country. ISO 3833:1977 is the standard for road vehicle types, terms, and definitions. Typically, to avoid requiring people with disabilities from having to possess an operator's license to use one, or requiring tags and insurance, powered wheelchairs are specifically excluded by law from being considered motor vehicles.
, there were more than one billion motor vehicles in use in the world, excluding off-road vehicles and heavy construction equipment. And now according to the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), the global number of motor vehicles in use reached around 1.55 billion by 2023, reflecting steady growth driven by rising ownership in Asia and Africa.
Global vehicle ownership per capita in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation (VIO) per 1000 people.
Definitions and terminology
In 1968, the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic gave one of the first international definitions of a motor vehicle:
Other sources might provide different definitions; for instance, in 1977, ISO 3833:1977 provides different definitions.
Ownership trends
The U.S. publisher Ward's estimates that, as of 2010, there were 1.015 billion motor vehicles in use worldwide. This figure represents the number of cars, trucks (light, medium, and heavy duty), and buses, but does not include off-road vehicles or heavy construction equipment. The world vehicle population passed the 500 million-unit mark in 1986, from 250 million motor vehicles in 1970. Between 1950 and 1970, the vehicle population doubled roughly every 10 years. Navigant Consulting forecasts that the global stock of light-duty motor vehicles will reach 2 billion units in 2035.
Global vehicle ownership in 2010 was 148 vehicles in operation per 1,000 people, a ratio of 1:6.75 vehicles per person, slightly down from 150 vehicles per 1,000 people in 2009, a rate of 1:6.63 vehicles per person. In developing countries vehicle ownership rates rarely exceed 200 cars per 1,000 population.
The following table summarizes the evolution of motor vehicle registrations in the world from 1960 to 2019:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
! colspan="13" align=center style="background-color: #ffdead;" | Historical trend of worldwide vehicle registrations<br />1960-2017 (thousands)
|-
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| Type of vehicle
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 1960
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 1970
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 1980
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 1990
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2000
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2005
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2010
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2015
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2016
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2017
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2018
! bgcolor="#ffdead"| 2019
|-align=center
|align=left|Car registrations<sup>(1)</sup>||98,305||193,479||320,390||444,900||548,558||617,914|| 723,567 || 931,260 || 973,353 || 1,015,643 || 1,042,274 || 1,083,528
|-align=center
|align=left|Truck and bus registrations||28,583||52,899||90,592||138,082||203,272||245,798|| 309,395 || 332,434 || 348,919 || 356,044 || 389,174 || 406,770
|-align=center
|align=left|World total||126,888||246,378||410,982||582,982||751,830||863,712|| 1,032,962 || 1,263,694 ||1,322,272 || 1,371,687 || 1,431,448 || 1,490,298
|-
| colspan="13" style="background-color: #ffdead;" |<small>Note (1) Car registrations do not include U.S. light trucks (SUVs, minivans, and pickups) that are used for personal travel. The US accounts for these vehicles among trucks.</small>
|}
;Alternative fuels and vehicle technology adoption
thumb|275px|Annual sales of [[plug-in electric car|plug-in passenger cars in the world's top markets between 2011 and 2023]]
Since the early 2000s, the number of alternative fuel vehicles has been increasing, driven by several governments' interest in promoting their widespread adoption through public subsidies and other non-financial incentives. Governments have adopted these policies due to a combination of factors, including environmental concerns, high oil prices, and a lower dependence on imported oil.
Among the fuels other than traditional petroleum fuels (gasoline or diesel fuel), and alternative technologies for powering the engine of a motor vehicle, the most popular options promoted by different governments are: natural gas vehicles, LPG powered vehicles, flex-fuel vehicles, use of biofuels, hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, electric cars, and hydrogen fuel cell cars. In 2020, the global market share of plug-in passenger car sales was 4.2%, up from 2.5% in 2019.
<!-- Europe and the countries below are listed by FLEET SIZE, China has the largest vehicle fleet now, please keep it that way. This is not a comprehensive list of countries but rather reflects the relevant automotive markets by fleet size and growth trends. -->
China
thumb|The People's Republic of China became the world's largest new car market in 2009.
The People's Republic of China had 322 million motor vehicles in use at the end of September 2018, of which 235 million were passenger cars, making China the country with the largest motor vehicle fleet in the world. In 2016, the motor vehicle fleet consisted of 165.6 million cars and 28.4 million trucks and buses.
The number of cars and motorcycles in China increased by a factor of 20 between 2000 and 2010. This explosive growth has allowed China to become the world's largest new car market, overtaking the US in 2009. Nevertheless, ownership per capita is 58 vehicles per 1000 people, or a ratio of 1:17.2 vehicles to people, still well below the rate of motorization of developed countries. Vehicle ownership per capita in the U.S. is also the highest in the world, the U.S. Department of Energy (USDoE) reports a motorization rate of 831.9 vehicles in operation per 1000 people in 2016, or a ratio of 1:1.2 vehicles to people. Passenger car registrations in the United States declined -11.5% in 2017 and -12.8% in 2018.
, the stock of alternative fuel vehicles in the United States included over 20 million flex-fuel cars and light trucks, the world's second-largest flexible-fuel fleet in the world after Brazil. However, actual use of ethanol fuel is significantly limited due to the lack of E85 refueling infrastructure.
Regarding the electrified segment, the fleet of hybrid electric vehicles in the United States ranks second in the world, after Japan, with more than 4 million units sold through April 2016. Since the introduction of the Tesla Roadster electric car in 2008, cumulative sales of highway legal plug-in electric vehicles in the United States passed one million units in September 2018. The U.S. stock of plug-in vehicles is the second largest after China (2.21 million by September 2018).
, the country's fleet also includes more than 160,000 natural gas vehicles, mainly transit buses and delivery fleets. Despite its relatively small size, natural gas use accounted for about 52% of all alternative fuels consumed by alternative transportation fuel vehicles in the U.S. in 2009.
Europe
thumb|300px|Historical evolution of the Norwegian [[plug-in electric car segment market share of new car sales and monthly records between 2011 and April 2025. Sources: Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) and Norsk Elbilforening (Norwegian EV Association)]]
The 27 European Union (EU-27) member countries had a fleet of over 256 million in 2008, and passenger cars accounted for 87% of the union's fleet. The five largest markets, Germany (17.7%), Italy (15.4%), France (13.3%), the UK (12.5%), and Spain (9.5%), accounted for 68% of the region's total registered fleet in 2008. The EU-27 member countries had in 2009 an estimated ownership rate of 473 passenger cars per 1000 people.
According to Ward's, Italy had the second-highest (after the U.S.) vehicle ownership per capita in 2010, with 690 vehicles per 1000 people. Portugal, between 1991 and 2002, grew its motorization rate by 220%, reaching 560 cars per 1000 people in 2002.
Italy also leads in alternative fuel vehicles, with a fleet of 779,090 natural gas vehicles , the largest NGV fleet in Europe.
More than one million plug-in electric passenger cars and vans have been registered in Europe by June 2018, the world's second largest regional plug-in stock after China.
Norway is the leading plug-in market in Europe with almost 500,000 units registered . In October 2018, Norway became the world's first country where 10% of all passenger cars on the road are plug-in electrics. Also, the Norwegian plug-in car segment market share has been the highest in the world for several years, achieving 39.2% in 2017, 49.1% in 2018, and 74.7% in 2020.
Japan
Japan had 73.9 million vehicles by 2010, and had the world's second-largest motor vehicle fleet until 2009.
Brazil
thumb|300px|Historical trend of Brazilian production of light-duty vehicles by type of fuel: neat ethanol, [[flexible-fuel vehicle|flex fuel, and gasoline from 1979 to 2017.]]
The Brazilian vehicle fleet reached 64.8 million vehicles in 2010, up from 29.5 million units in 2000, representing a 119% increase over ten years and a motorization rate of 340 vehicles per 1000 people. In 2010, Brazil experienced the second-largest fleet increase in the world after China, with 2.5 million vehicle registrations. between 2.4 and 3.0 million neat ethanol vehicles still in use, out of 5.7 million ethanol only light-vehicles produced since 1979; and, , a total of 1.69 million natural gas vehicles.
In addition, all the Brazilian gasoline-powered fleet is designed to operate with high ethanol blends, up to 25% ethanol fuel (E25). The market share of flex fuel vehicles reached 88.6% of all light-duty vehicles registered in 2017. India has a fleet of 1.1 million natural gas vehicles
.
Motorization rates by region and selected country
The following table compares vehicle ownership rates by region with those of the United States, the country with one of the highest motorization rates in the world, and how they have evolved from 1999 to 2016.
<!-- Canada and the U.S. are reported as countries as the source does not provide the rates for North America as a region -->
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto"
! colspan="4" align=center style="background-color: #abcdef;" | Comparison of motorization rates by region<br />and selected country (1999 and 2016)<br /><small>(vehicles per 1,000 people)</small>
|-align=center
| bgcolor="#abcdef"| Country or region
| bgcolor="#abcdef"| 1999
| bgcolor="#abcdef"| 2006
|-
!World<br/>rank<br/>2017!!Country!!2017!!2016!!2015!!2014!!2013!!2012!!2011!!2010!!2009!!2008!!2007!!2006!!2005!!2004
|-style="text-align:center;
|1||style="text-align:left;|China||29,015,434||28,118,794||24,503,326||23,722,890||22,116,825||19,271,808||18,418,876||18,264,761||13,790,994||9,299,180||8,882,456||7,188,708||5,717,619||5,234,496
|-style="text-align:center;
|2||style="text-align:left;|United States||11,189,985||12,198,137||12,100,095||11,660,699||11,066,432||10,335,765||8,661,535||7,743,093||5,709,431||8,672,141||10,780,729||11,263,986||11,946,653||11,989,387
|-style="text-align:center;
|3||style="text-align:left;|Japan||9,693,746||9,204,590||9,278,238||9,774,558||9,630,181||9,943,077||8,398,630||9,628,920||7,934,057||11,575,644||11,596,327||11,484,233||10,799,659||10,511,518
|-style="text-align:center;
|4||style="text-align:left;|Germany||5,645,581||6,062,562||6,033,164||5,907,548||5,718,222||5,649,260||6,146,948||5,905,985||5,209,857||6,045,730||6,213,460||5,819,614||5,757,710||5,569,954
|-style="text-align:center;
|5||style="text-align:left;|India||4,782,896||4,488,965||4,125,744||3,840,160||3,898,425||4,174,713||3,927,411||3,557,073||2,641,550||2,332,328||2,253,729||2,019,808||1,638,674||1,511,157
|-style="text-align:center;
|6||style="text-align:left;|South Korea||4,114,913||4,228,509||4,555,957||4,524,932||4,521,429||4,561,766||4,657,094||4,271,741||3,512,926||3,826,682||4,086,308||3,840,102||3,699,350||3,469,464
|-style="text-align:center;
|7||style="text-align:left;|Mexico||4,068,415||3,597,462||3,565,469||3,365,306||3,054,849||3,001,814||2,681,050||2,342,282||1,561,052||2,167,944||2,095,245||2,045,518||1,684,238||1,577,159
|-style="text-align:center;
|8||style="text-align:left;|Spain||2,848,335||2,885,922||2,733,201||2,402,978||2,163,338||1,979,179||2,373,329||2,387,900||2,170,078||2,541,644||2,889,703||2,777,435||2,752,500||3,012,174
|-style="text-align:center;
|9||style="text-align:left;|Brazil||2,699,672||2,156,356||2,429,463||3,146,118||3,712,380||3,402,508||3,407,861||3,381,728||3,182,923||3,215,976||2,977,150||2,611,034||2,530,840||2,317,227
|-style="text-align:center;
|10||style="text-align:left;|France||2,227,000||2,082,000||1,970,000||1,817,000||1,740,000||1,967,765||2,242,928||2,229,421||2,047,693||2,568,978||3,015,854||3,169,219||3,549,008||3,665,990
|-style="text-align:center;
|11||style="text-align:left;|Canada||2,199,789||2,370,271||2,283,474||2,393,890||2,379,834||2,463,364||2,135,121||2,068,189||1,490,482||2,082,241||2,578,790||2,572,292||2,687,892||2,711,536
|-style="text-align:center;
|12||style="text-align:left;|Thailand||1,988,823||1,944,417||1,915,420||1,880,007||2,457,057||2,429,142||1,457,798||1,644,513||999,378||1,393,742||1,287,346||1,194,426||1,122,712||927,981
|-style="text-align:center;
|13||style="text-align:left;|||1,749,385||1,816,622 ||1,682,156||1,598,879||1,597,872||1,576,945||1,463,999||1,393,463||1,090,139||1,649,515||1,750,253||1,648,388||1,803,109||1,856,539
|-style="text-align:center;
|14||style="text-align:left;|Turkey||1,695,731||1,485,927||1,358,796||1,170,445||1,125,534||1,072,978||1,189,131||1,094,557||869,605||1,147,110||1,099,413||987,780||879,452||823,408
|-style="text-align:center;
|15||style="text-align:left;|Russia||1,551,293||1,303,989||1,384,399||1,886,646||2,184,266||2,233,103||1,990,155||1,403,244||725,012||1,790,301||1,660,120||1,508,358||1,354,504||1,386,127
|+
!!!style="text-align:left;|World total!!97,302,534!!94,976,569!!90,780,583!!89,747,430!!87,507,027!!84,236,171!!79,880,920!!77,583,519!!61,762,324!!70,729,696!!73,266,061!!69,222,975!!66,719,519||64,496,220
|}
See also
- Non-motorist
- Active mobility
- Effects of the car on societies
- Environmentally friendly vehicle
- History of the automobile
- List of countries by vehicles per capita
- List of countries by motor vehicle production
- List of countries by traffic-related death rate
- List of motor vehicle awards
- Motor vehicle emissions
- Peak car use
- Road traffic safety
- Sustainable transport
- Traffic congestion