THE IMPACT OF OIL PRICE FLUCTUATIONS ON THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

Ahmad Ahmadian
Aun Hassan
Hailu Regassa
Colorado State University – Pueblo
ABSTRACT
Lately, several macro variables have been a cause of concern for major economies
around the world and have been the focus of research studies. This is especially true for oil prices
mainly because of the strong dependence of the global economy on oil. The volatility in oil prices
has led many researchers to study the impact of other variables on major industries in the US and
other developed nations. The most directly affected industry emanating from unstable oil prices is
the transportation sector, more specifically the automobile industry. In the past decade or so, the
auto industry in the US and elsewhere in the world has been going through a major transition.
This study sheds some light on the impact of the volatility and trends in oil prices on the evolution
of the auto industry in the past ten years.