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Los Angeles’ Auto Manufacturing Past
During the 1940s through the 1960s, Los
Angeles County had become the second largest auto manufacturing region in the
nation, following closely behind Detroit. Studebaker, Chrysler, Ford, and General
Motors manufactured cars here. At its peak, more than 15,000 auto workers
assembled half a million cars per year. By
1965, the L.A. Times even suggested that Los Angeles had replaced Detroit
as the nation’s auto capital. When the 1970s arrived, imports began consuming a significant portion of
the auto market in Los Angeles. The
Chrysler plant in the City of Commerce became the first major auto plant to shut
down. Other plant shut downs followed until the region’s last remaining auto
plant, the General Motors facility in Van Nuys, closed in 1992.
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