"More vehicles will be produced in the next 20 years than were manufactured in the previous 110-year history of the industry," says Garel Rhys, director of the Centre for Automotive Industry Research Cardiff University Business School in Wales.

Rhys’ statements came at an address to members of the Society of Automotive Analysts at the 2004 World Congress of the Society of Automotive Engineers. "The increased production will require an $80 trillion investment, 180 new assembly plants, and require most existing factories to be renewed, retooled, refurbished or replaced to remain effective," he says.

Much of the increase will be the result of emerging markets, those now experiencing dynamic growth and those yet to become players in the world automotive market. China, India and Eastern Europe are rapidly becoming mobile as their economies and societies evolve.

The world automotive market is like a "coil spring that can go any direction," says Rhys. Large firms rely on product philosophy and business methods rather than innovation, while smaller firms may be more creative and willing to take chances.

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