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> It's because manufacturing needs fewer people now.

It's because they outsourced most roles starting in the 90s. They don't need as many people due to efficiency gains, but not "hollow out entire cities" levels of efficiency. Human labor is still necessary, and human labor in other parts of the world will be cheaper than many automation gains for times to come.

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Big 3 global workforce headcount today is far far below what it was in 1970. The outsourcing explanation doesn't make sense.

And they all sell less cars than on the 70's too. But their profits still stay relatively high and revenue is steadily rising.

That doesn't tell me we got efficiency gains, they just shifted models on how and what to make. And where they make it. If we had true efficiency gains there'd be more cars sold, perhaps at cheaper prices.

The big 3 produced 6.47 million passenger cars in 1970.

The big 3 produced 15.66 million passenger cars in 2025.

One would think the true efficiency gains are better quality cars that last longer and require less replacement

Are your numbers (which I haven't seen) include the headcount of the makers of their outsourced parts?

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