German car manufacturer

The automotive industry in Germany is one of the largest employers in the country, with a labour force of over 747,000 (2009) working in the industry.

Being home to the modern car, the German automobile industry is regarded as the most competitive and innovative in the world, and has the third highest car production in the world, and fourth highest total motor vehicle production. With an annual output close to six million and a 35.6% share of the European Union (2008),

German-designed cars won in the European Car of the Year, the International Car of the Year, the World Car of the Year annual awards the most times among all countries. The Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911 took 4th and 5th places in the Car of the Century award.

Germany was always inspired by the British automotive industry in the late 1860s and as motor-car pioneers Karl Benz and Nikolaus Otto developed four-stroke internal combustion engines in the late 1870s, with Benz fitting his design to a coach in 1887, which led to the modern day motor car. By 1901, Germany was producing about 900 cars a year. In 1926, Daimler-Benz was formed from the predecessor companies of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler and produced cars under the marque of Mercedes-Benz. In 1916 BMW was founded, but didn't start auto production until 1928.

American economist Robert A. Brady extensively documented the rationalization movement that shaped German industry in the 1920s, and although his general model of the movement applied to the automotive industry, the sector was in poor health in the later years of the Weimar Republic. Germany's slow development of the industry left the market open for major American auto manufacturers such as General Motors who took over German company Opel in 1929, and the Ford Motor Company which maintained the successful German subsidiary Ford-Werke, beginning in 1925.

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