World car

The phrase world car is an engineering strategy used to describe an automobile designed to suit the needs of global automotive markets with minimal changes in each market it is sold in. The goal of a world car program is to save costs and increase quality by standardizing parts and design for a single vehicle in a certain class, in hopes of using the cost savings to deliver a higher-quality product that appeals to automotive consumers worldwide. Examples include the Ford Mondeo and Focus, modern no-frills cars such as the Fiat Palio, Dacia Logan and VW Fox along with luxury cars such as the BMW 3-Series and Lexus LS.

In the pioneering days of the automotive industry, automobiles were primarily designed for the local market that the manufacturer was based in, such as the Ford Model T, which was engineered to cope with the rural lifestyle and rugged terrain that most automobile buyers in the United States had to contend with in the early days of the automobile. However, the Model T was arguably the first world car, with knock-down kits being assembled in locations such as Canada, England and Argentina.

In particular, Ford Motor Company and its American compatriot, General Motors were focused on expanding globally, with General Motors either acquiring or partnering with local automobile manufacturers, such as Opel of Germany, Vauxhall of England and Holden of Australia, while Ford created overseas subsidiaries that would later develop their own line of bespoke automobiles independently of their American parent, such as Ford of Germany, Ford of Britain and Ford Australia.

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