In 2008, the number of 4-cylinder engine installations rose to 57% of all cars manufactured in that year. The graph below shows that the cars produced in 1999 and 2003 were very close to the same in terms of the number of cylinders. But in 2008, the share of vehicles with 6-cylinder engines declined, due to the rising share of 4-cylinder engines and the newfound popularity of 5-cylinder engines. The 5-cylinder engines also show up in the light trucks produced in 2008, but only account for 1.3%. The share of 6-cylinder engines in light trucks did not decline like it did for cars, but the shares for 8 and 10-cylinder engines did.
Vehicle Production Shares by Engine
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Supporting Information
| 3-cylinder | 4-cylinder | 5-cylinder | 6-cylinder | 8-cylinder | 10-cylinder | Total Units (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cars | |||||||
| 1999 | 0.1% | 47.7% | 0.0% | 42.8% | 9.4% | 0.0% | 7.1 |
| 2003 | 0.0% | 49.1% | 0.0% | 42.8% | 8.1% | 0.0% | 6.3 |
| 2008 | 0.0% | 57.0% | 7.2% | 30.2% | 5.6% | 0.0% | 6.1 |
| Light Trucks | |||||||
| 1999 | 0.0% | 7.5% | 0.0% | 47.2% | 43.6% | 1.7% | 7.4 |
| 2003 | 0.0% | 6.4% | 0.0% | 47.5% | 45.2% | 0.9% | 8.5 |
| 2008 | 0.0% | 10.1% | 1.3% | 47.5% | 40.7% | 0.4% | 7.0 |
Source: Ward's Automotive Group, 2009 Ward's Automotive Yearbook, p. 29. | |||||||