Estimating the Population of Passenger Cars in Service

The approximate population of passenger cars in service and the rate of attrition of that population must be known when long range production plans are made, marketing strategies are developed, the total fuel need of the vehicles on U.S. roads is estimated, etc.

Estimation of population is complex due to the lack of accurate data and the interactions between the parameters affecting attrition. Various methods are available to estimate the present and future population levels of passenger cars in service. Within the scope of this paper the projected populations of various passenger cars are compared and various attrition projection methods are discussed.