Austria's automotive industry has shown spectacular growth in recent years with some sectors achieving double digit rates. Around 600 firms with a total number of 60,000 employees are active, of which 350 - 370 companies can be considered significant core automotive industries. 

Annual production output of the automotive industry is about 7 - 8 billion Euro and accounts for approx. 10 % of Austria's total industrial output. In 2000, the annual production reached 160,000 units (cars, estate cars, trucks, and special vehicles); it is expected to rise to 200,000 by 2004. Austria also produced 45,000 motor cycles, 18,000 trailers and 8,500 tractors.
Four- and six-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines, including direct fuel-injected engines amounted to 600,000 units plus 397,000 ECO TEC engines. Furthermore, Austria manufactured about 1 million transmission units.

The Austrian automotive industry is particularly advanced in the development and production of direct fuel-injected diesel engines. Several well-known automobile manufacturers including BMW, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors have outsourced a number of engine production facilities to Austria. In the future Austria is expected to play an ever increasing role in the automotive industry considering that top global automotive manufacturers and suppliers are further investing in additional developments in Austria. Recent projects include the expansion of engine production by BMW and GM-Opel, and the relocation of vehicle development and production by BMW X3 and of certain Saab models.