Why is The American automobile industry is an archetypical oligopoly?

Answer 1

The American automobile industry followed the pattern of many other oligopolies. Approximately three decades ago the automobile industry had a concentration ratio of 100. All automobiles were made here in America. But since then there have been two major changes. The first was set off by the gasoline shortages we had in the 1970s. The higher gas prices that followed made fuel-efficient cars-particularly Japanese cars-much more attractive to the American buyer. Imports, which had been limited to just 10% of the market, shot up to about 30% by the mid 1980s. With about the same significance to the industry has been the beginning of the Japanese transplants, which began setting up assembly lines during the 1980s. Today these firms assemble half the motor vehicles produced in the US.