How much of the world's car history we cover
Each layer is counted on its own, with the sources behind it. We don't publish a completion percentage, because no reliable census of every car ever built exists. Countries are shown next to a community reference listing so the gaps are visible.
Identity layers
51 nameplates have no dated listing; 3 marque origins remain unresolved. Legal manufacturers, marques and historical ownership are separate identities. A government marque listing does not establish a legal parent. No worldwide missing-vehicle total is known. Configuration records count distinct entries within each source; they are not a deduplicated worldwide count of physical designs. Held source identities are review tasks, not an estimate of all missing cars.
Model years and configurations are counted separately and never as models. 4,895 source identity groups were held or excluded, each with a stated reason.
By marque country
The reference column counts Wikidata items typed as automobile models (10,655 across 72 countries, retrieved 2026-10-31). It is community-maintained and incomplete, so it shows where gaps are likely, not how complete we are. Marque countries are editorial: where the marque was founded or is headquartered.
| Country | Marques | Nameplates | Chassis codes | With profiles | Reference models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 38 | 578 | 0 | 2 | 1,603 |
| France | 6 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 1,469 |
| Germany | 11 | 289 | 0 | 3 | 1,381 |
| Japan | 14 | 633 | 989 | 50 | 1,326 |
| United Kingdom | 16 | 145 | 0 | 0 | 1,008 |
| Italy | 9 | 128 | 0 | 0 | 892 |
| People's Republic of China | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 866 |
| Russia | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 262 |
| South Korea | 5 | 93 | 0 | 1 | 235 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 225 |
| Sweden | 4 | 60 | 0 | 0 | 175 |
| Spain | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 129 |
| India | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 83 |
| German Empire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75 |
| Czechoslovakia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 |
| Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 70 |
| Nazi Germany | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63 |
| Soviet Union | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 |
| Romania | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 49 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 48 |
| Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| German Reich | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 |
| Austria | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Austria–Hungary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Brazil | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Malaysia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 |
| Morocco | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| Poland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| Argentina | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| East Germany | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| Taiwan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Iran | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Kingdom of Saxony | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Vietnam | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Serbia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Turkey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Finland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Unresolved | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – |
No coverage yet for marques from 56 countries in the reference listing, including German Empire, Czechoslovakia, Australia, Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, Ukraine, German Reich, Austria, Austria–Hungary, Brazil, Malaysia, Hong Kong.
By era
Decade of the earliest year any source lists for each nameplate. Official structured sources start in 1984 (US EPA) and 1996 (NHTSA vPIC); Honda's archive reaches back to the 1960s. ADEME archive years are listing snapshots, not production dates. Undated listings stay undated; they are never assigned their download year.
| First listed | Nameplates |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 345 |
| 1990s | 317 |
| 2000s | 422 |
| 2010s | 647 |
| 2020s | 257 |
| Before 1980 | 9 |
| Undated | 51 |
Next acquisition priorities
Ranked by how far the reference listing exceeds our coverage for each country, with the best reachable source.
| Country | Reference models | Our nameplates | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| France | 1,469 | 73 | manufacturer-heritage | research |
| Germany | 1,381 | 289 | manufacturer-heritage | research |
| United States | 1,603 | 578 | No reusable source identified | research |
| People's Republic of China | 866 | 2 | cn-miit-announcements | research |
| United Kingdom | 1,008 | 145 | manufacturer-heritage | research |
| Italy | 892 | 128 | manufacturer-heritage | research |
| Japan | 1,326 | 633 | mlit-fuel-economy-pdf | planned |
| Russia | 262 | 5 | No reusable source identified | research |
Sources
| Source | Region | Layer | Licence | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nhtsa-vpic | North America | nameplate, US model year | US federal work (public domain) | acquired |
| epa-fueleconomy | North America | nameplate, US model year 1984+, configuration | US federal work (public domain) | acquired |
| honda-jp-archive | East Asia | nameplate, Japan sales catalogue periods | Manufacturer site; facts and links only | acquired |
| mlit-fuel-economy-xlsx | East Asia | nameplate, chassis code, engine configuration (2013–2026) | Public Data License 1.0 (CC BY 4.0 compatible) | acquired |
| mlit-fuel-economy-pdf | East Asia | chassis code, engine configuration (2004–2012) | Public Data License 1.0 | planned |
| eea-co2-cars | Europe | marque, commercial name, type-approval variant (EU-registered cars 2010+) | EEA reuse policy (CC BY 4.0) | blocked: discodata.eea.europa.eu returns 403 to automated queries; bulk CSV downloads not yet evaluated |
| uk-vca-car-fuel-data | Europe | marque, model, description, engine (UK-approved cars) | Open Government Licence v3.0 | blocked: robots.txt disallows all automated access |
| nrcan-fuel-consumption | North America | nameplate, model year 1995+, configuration | Open Government Licence – Canada | acquired |
| au-green-vehicle-guide | Oceania | marque, model, variant (Australian market) | Creative Commons Attribution | research |
| kr-fuel-economy | East Asia | marque, model, engine (Korean market) | Korea Public Data portal licence (to confirm) | research |
| cn-miit-announcements | East Asia | marque, model, type approval | Unclear; access and reuse terms to confirm | research |
| in-manufacturer-catalogs | South Asia | market identity | Manufacturer sites; facts and links only | research |
| manufacturer-heritage | Global | generation histories, historical models | Manufacturer sites; facts and links only | research |
| toyota-75-years-lineage | East Asia | generation histories | Manufacturer site | blocked: HTTP 403 to automated requests |
| wikidata-reference | Global | coverage reference only (never published as an identity) | CC0 1.0 | acquired |
| ademe-car-labelling | Europe | French-market base-nameplate listings, 2001/2014 archive snapshots and dated current dataset; source configuration records | Licence Ouverte / Open Licence | acquired |
| br-inmetro-pbev | South America | marque, model and configuration listings from PBEV | Site-wide CC BY-ND 3.0; dataset-specific adaptation/reuse clarification required | research |
| nissan-historical-collection | East Asia | historical production models and individual collection vehicles; race cars/prototypes must be separated | Manufacturer facts and links only; no artwork or narrative reuse | research |
| renault-originals-museum | Europe | historical production models from the earliest Renault era; replicas/concepts must be excluded | Manufacturer facts and links only | research |
| za-naamsa-industry-history | Africa | historical industry production context; not an individual-model census | Reuse terms and individual-model sources to verify | research |
Records not published: ca-nrcan-20261031 2,754 · fr-ademe-20261031 1,882 · us-epa-20261031 196 · us-vpic-20261031 63. Blocked sources are not worked around.