Automotive industry

The automotive industry is a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue. The automotive industry does not include industries dedicated to the maintenance of automobiles following delivery to the end-user, such as automobile repair shops and motor fuel filling stations.

The term automotive was created from Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion) to represent any form of self-powered vehicle. This term was proposed by SAE member Elmer Sperry.

History

The automotive industry began in the 1890s with hundreds of manufacturers that pioneered the horseless carriage. For many decades, the United States led the world in total automobile production. In 1929 before the Great Depression, the world had 32,028,500 automobiles in use, and the U.S. automobile industry produced over 90% of them. At that time the U.S. had one car per 4.87 persons. After World War II, the U.S. produced about 75 percent of world's auto production. In 1980, the U.S. was overtaken by Japan and became world's leader again in 1994. In 2006, Japan narrowly passed the U.S. in production and held this rank until 2009, when China took the top spot with 13.8 million units. With 19.3 million units manufactured in 2012, China almost doubled the U.S. production, with 10.3 million units, while Japan was in third place with 9.9 million units. From 1970 (140 models) over 1998 (260 models) to 2012 (684 models), the number of automobile models in the U.S. has grown exponentially.

Revolution Tour

The Chevy Revolution Tour is a snowboarding competition series created in 2005 by U.S. Snowboarding to bridge the gap between grassroots level and elite snowboarding competitions. The sole purpose of the Chevy Revolution Tour is to help young riders make the jump to elite level competition and to progress the sport of snowboarding

The Tour

Featuring halfpipe, slopestyle and snowboardcross the tour, which is hosted annually by top resorts across the country, is the main vein for qualification into the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix series. Competition is open to all riders 13 and older for halfpipe and slopestyle and 15 and older for SBX events.

In addition to the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, the Chevy Revolution Tour also serves as a qualifier for the US Open, FIS Junior World Snowboarding Championships, USASA Open Class Nationals and the Visa U.S. Snowboarding Cup – a World Cup competition held annually in Lake Placid, NY.

Also on the line is $10,000 in prize money, plus the top male and female junior riders receive an invitation to join U.S. Snowboarding's Project Gold Team, an opportunity to train with U.S. Snowboarding at its annual summer camp.

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz (German pronunciation: [mɛɐ̯ˈtseːdəs ˈbɛnts]) is a German automobile manufacturer, a multinational division of the German manufacturer Daimler AG. The brand is known for luxury automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. The headquarters of Mercedes-Benz is in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The name first appeared in 1926 under Daimler-Benz, but traces its origins to Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft's 1901 Mercedes and to Karl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first gasoline powered automobile. Mercedes-Benz's slogan is "The Best or Nothing". Mercedes-Benz is one of the most recognized automotive brands worldwide.

History