Oil Shock I (1973) and Japanese Automobile Market Shift

Hi folks -- when an Americanist like myself thinks of Oil Shock I, we focus narrowly on the US market and the rise of the Japanese Auto industry post-1973. What follows, however,  is data taken from Ward's Automotive Yearbook, 1977, that gives us a bigger picture of what was happening to the global automotive market with regards to Japanese vehicles. It appears that post-1973 the Japanese industry realized that it could not simply count on the U.S. for sales of its cars, trucks, and buses. And so it reached out to other opportunities around the globe, and did so successfully. The U.S. industry followed a bit of this strategy, but of course without a strong small car component, was limited in its impact overseas.

Japan Automotive Industry, Total Cars, Trucks and Buses, Exported

To Asia

1971 – 196,184

1972 – 224,536

1973 – 296,607

1974 – 428,959

1975 – 531,645

1976 – 747,387

To Africa

1971 – 171,440

1972 – 123,420

1973 – 146,967

1974 – 214,001

1975 – 217,294

1976 – 237,112

 To Europe

1971 – 217,395

1972 – 368,025

1973 –404,414

1974 – 388,302

1975 – 528,486

1976 – 706, 579

To Americas

1971 – 1, 061,948

1972 – 1,124,630

1973 – 1,036,389

1974 – 1,293,755

1975 – 1,147,463

1976 – 1,683,715

To Oceania

1971 – 131,852

1972 – 124,535

1973 – 182,920

1974 – 292,789

1975 – 251,426

1976 – 333,459

Totals

1971 – 1,779024

1972 – 1,965,404

1973 – 2,067,556

1974 – 2,618,087

1975 – 2,677,612

1976 – 3,709,808

Here is an interesting contemporary map representing the current export of used cars from one from one Japanese company:

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