Global Auto Output Could Set Record in 2012

Car and light-truck producers appear headed for a record of at least 80 million units worldwide in 2012, according to the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C.

The 38-year-old group, which conducts independent environmental research, says output last year totaled 76.8 million vehicles, up 3% from 2010.

Worldwide sales of passenger vehicles rose from 75.4 million units in 2010 to 78.6 million last year and will reach a projected 81.8 million vehicles this year.

There were 979 million cars and commercial vehicles on the road in 2011, up 30 million units from the previous year, according to the institute. Its research predicts the global fleet could surpass 1 billion vehicles one for every seven people on Earth in 2012.