The automotive industry is an association of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles.It is one of the world’s most important sector for economic and revenue and plays a vital role in transport. Automotive industry does not include industries related to the maintenance of automobiles following delivery to the end-user, such as automobile repair shops and motor fuel filling stations.
The term automotive was created from Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion) to represent any form of self-powered vehicle. This term was proposed by SAE(Society of Automobile Engineers) member Elmer Sperry. The Economy in any sector can’t grow till the customer is satisfied for any industry to grow the most important factor is the fulfillment of the wants and desires of the customers.
If a customer is satisfied then the company will be benefitted otherwise it will be in loss. So the customer is satisfaction is the main motive thereby it is very important to know the customers thinking. Everyone wants to gain profit and in order to gain profit company’s need to know what customers want and what they think and the product should be cost effective.
After analysis of the target audience and their needs only a product can be successful in the market so basically deciding a target audience is very necessary for automotive industry and finding the cheapest technology to fulfill it as every wants more for less. It is the customers who decide the success of a product so automotive industry’s main aim is the satisfaction of the customer.
The automotive industry began in the 1890s with hundreds of manufacturers that headed the horseless carriage. For many decades, the United States led the world in total automobile production. In 1929 before the Great Depression, the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, and the U.S. automobile industry produced over 90{1154825eec990eb24260305d599f09fa1fc6d7547b9fd2b531810dc21d47c956} of them. At that time the U.S. had one car per 4.87 persons. After World War II, the U.S. produced about 75 percent of world’s auto production.
In 1980, the U.S. was overtaken by Japan and became world's leader again in 1994. In 2006, Japan narrowly passed the U.S. in production and held this rank until 2009, when China took the top spot with 13.8 million units. With 19.3 million units manufactured in 2012, China almost doubled the U.S. production, with 10.3 million units, while Japan was in third place with 9.9 million units. From 1970 (140 models) over 1998 (260 models) to 2012 (684 models), the number of automobile models in the U.S. has grown exponentially. Safety implies to be protected from any risk, danger, damage or cause of injury. In the automotive industry, safety means that customers, engineers or producers are protected from any kind of risk or danger caused by the motor vehicle or any of its spare part.
Safety for the automobiles basically imply being prepared for the damage or accident that can take place to anyone at any point may it be at the time of designing or production or driving.Basically that there is no risk of danger. Safety in the automotive industry is very important and therefore there is a demand to take precautions to build in features which provide safety basically to the users.
Automobiles and other motor vehicles have to abide by a certain number of norms and regulations, whether local or international, in order, their product is accepted in the market. The standard ISO 26262, is considered as one of the best practice frameworks for achieving automotive functional safety. In the case of safety issues, danger, product defect or faulty procedure during the manufacturing of the motor vehicle, the maker can request to return either a batch or the entire production run.
This procedure is called product recall. Product recalls happen in every industry and can be production- related or stem from the raw material. Product and operation tests and inspections at different stages of the value chain are made to avoid these product recalls by ensuring end-user security and safety and compliance with the automotive industry requirements. However, the automotive industry is still particularly concerned about product recalls, which cause considerable financial consequences.
Automotive industry also keep in mind the accidents that happen that’s why they keep on improvising their designs and adding the features in the cars some of the features like a strong cabin that can withstand severe impact, Crumple zones -Modern cars protect drivers and passengers in frontal, rear and offset crashes by using crumple zones to absorb crash energy.
This means that the car absorbs the impact of the crash, not the driver or passengers, Air bags-Australian airbags are designed to supplement the protection provided by seat belts – they are not a substitute. The best protection in frontal crashes is achieved using a properly worn seat belt in combination with an airbag. Head Rest position is critical for preventing whiplash in rear impact crashes. Whiplash is caused by the head extending backward from the torso in the initial stage of rear impact, then being thrown forward. And also the new technology self-drive can help a lot in case of drink and drive so automotive industry takes a lot of care of the customer safety and it helps in gaining buyers confident and thereby gaining profits.
In the end, though automotive industries have to face a lot of completion n work hard to meet the satisfaction of the consumers but then to automotive industries always stand up to our expectations and try their best to give us more for less. The Automotive industry also contributes a lot to the revenue and plays an important role in world’s economy. They have made our work a lot easier by providing so much of facilities and making the land transport safe, enjoyable and comfortable.
