How Detroit's Big Three dominated carmaking and then watched Japan catch up
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, all based around Detroit, were once the three biggest carmakers on Earth. Then Toyota passed GM worldwide in 2006, overtook Chrysler in American sales the same year, and in 2021 became the first foreign firm to top US sales for a full year. The term Big Three has since spread worldwide.
The phrase began in America, where General Motors built the first big multi-brand car company in the 1910s, followed by Ford and Chrysler before the Second World War. Other countries borrowed it: Germany's trio is Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, India's is Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tata, and China even has two sets, one privately owned and one owned by the state.
In 1999 Ford was forecast to overtake GM as the world's largest maker by 2005, but instead Toyota passed both. It became second in the world by 2003, and in 2007 took Ford's position as the second-biggest seller in the US, which Ford had held since 1931. Japanese makers had gained ground after the 1973 oil crisis with small, efficient cars, and the Honda Civic led its class in Canada for 22 years in a row.
Detroit leaned heavily on sport utility vehicles, which from the late 1990s supplied over half their profits, while small cars often lost money. A 2008 industry report estimated a maker had to sell ten small cars to earn what one big vehicle made. When fuel prices spiked and the subprime crisis hit in 2008, trucks and SUVs slumped, and in 2009 GM and Chrysler both went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Fiat then took over Chrysler, which is now part of Stellantis, leading some to speak of a Detroit Big Two.
Japan also went upmarket. Honda launched Acura in 1986, and Toyota's Lexus LS 400 arrived at $38,000 in the US while Car and Driver rated it above far pricier German rivals. BMW's American sales fell 29 percent, and its chairman accused Lexus of dumping. In 1990 Acura's NSX became the first all-aluminium production car. Tesla's rise has lately prompted talk of a Big Four.
Source: Big Three (automobile manufacturers)
