The Worldwatch Institute reports that global production of passenger vehicles, i.e. cars and light commercial trucks, set a new record in 2011 with 76.8 million units compared to 74.4 million in 2010.

This means that at the end of 2011 a total of 691 million passenger cars were on roads all over the world, rising to 979 million if we include light- and heavy-duty trucks.

What’s more, if a research conducted by the institute proves accurate, 2012’s numbers will be even higher. The institute’s research projects 81.8 million worldwide passenger car sales for 2012, with most of the increase coming from emerging markets.

In this case, the global “fleet” could top 1 billion vehicles by year’s end, which is one for every seven people on Earth. The report highlights that the top four producers of light vehicles (China, the USA, Japan and Germany) account for more than half of the current automotive industry’s global output.

Furthermore, China’s passenger car sales grew at an average rate of 25 percent per year from 2000 until 2011, rising from less than 10 million to 73 million cars!

Of course, more cars on the streets mean more miles driven, which equals greater fuel consumption and as a result, an increase in pollution and greenhouse effect gas emissions. The report states that advances in automotive and fuel technology have mitigated negative effects, but the rate of sales growth and the increase of distances driven look likely to overwhelm any benefits.

The good news is that sales of hybrids and electric vehicles, which pollute much less or not at all, are on the rise. The bad news is that total global sales didn’t even exceed 2 percent – so there is still a long way to go.

Once again, everyone is looking out for China. Authorities have already stated that they want 5 million plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles on the country’s streets by 2020.

On the other hand, an analysis by the Deutsche Bank Climate Advisors estimates that a total fleet of 3.5 million units, of which 1.5 will be EVs, is a more realistic number.

By Andrew Tsaousis

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