Trying to make a complete list of cars produced in entire world and understand which model is the successor of which model, I started around 2000 to write list of models in Notepad (one TXT file for each brand), sorted by class, including years of production (no technical specifications).
Car Models List in Word & Car Models Timeline in Excel
In 2003 I combined the TXT files into a single file Car Models List .DOC. Same year I also started Car Models Timeline .XLS, same data displayed in an easy-to-visualize timeline chart.
They were not market specific, but instead for local market of every manufacturer, for European manufacturers it showed European models, for American manufacturers it showed American models, etc, for Asian manufacturers it showed both local and European models (except Japan manufacturers in which case I showed primarily European models and just few of Japanese domestic market.
The Car Models List.DOC had 65 brands in 2010 edition, being already complete for cars sold in Western Europe plus cars produced in United States, constant updates raised to 75 brands in April 2012 and 88 brands in November 2012.
Since 2012 I decided to make it more comprehensive, I added Eastern Europe (communist cars) and a lot of dead and minor brands (producing less than several hundred cars per year), exceeding 100 brands in January 2013.
2003-2014 editions vs 2015 edition
Now it is black & white, printer-friendly (although I believe that nobody will want to print this)
Car Body List in Word
For certain makes, I made also a Car Body List in TXT format with one row per body type instead of per model.
Some successive models have different production years for each body type (for example BMW 3-Series touring and coupe is produced 1 years while Cabriolet is produced 2 years after next generation of saloon model is launched). Consequently I made also a Car Body List (with one row per body type instead of per model) for certain makes.
However in 2004 I abandoned Car Body List, considering unnecessary to have so many different lists, and I increased the detail level of Car Models List, by making separate rows for sister models like Volkswagen Golf and Bora (Jetta IV), which were previously a single row in Car Models List and 5 rows in Car Body List (Golf, Golf Variant, Bora, Bora Variant, Golf Cabrio).
In 2005 I started Car Body Database in Excel having same kind of one row per body type, but including also car dimensions. This database was less important and only in 2012 I made it complete.
Car Models List in Excel
Excel version of Car Models List (4 columns) was born on 30 Dec 2012 when someone from Turkey requesting a simple make / model database in Excel to dump it MySQL, case in which the original Word document do not suit. I included production years as well as car class, because this is only way to check that the list is COMPLETE. I emailed him the file and he never replied if Excel list is suitable.
4 column version
2867 models from 96 brands immediately after conversion .
2960 models from 103 brands, 358 KB – January 2013 edition.
Surprisingly, I sold 4 copies during just 1 month (I was surprised, did not know that there will be people willing to pay for a DATAbase without (technical) DATA).
I started in February 2013 an improved version with 6 columns, having separate columns for the year of availability in US and EU markets. I started studying American market and I paid effort to make it complete for American market too, beside the European market (additional ~100 models – previous version did not contained Asian cars made specially for US and not sold in Europe or domestic market), plus adding more Japanese, Korean and Indian cars not available in Europe, and more dead brands.
3100+ models from 110 brands – March 2013, first final edition.
3269 models from 114 brands + India add-on with 73 models from 10 brands – May 2013 edition.
8 column Worldwide vs 5 column Europe-only
photos deleted
New enhanced version with 8 columns launched on 26 May 2013: added Sold in EU / EU (yes/no) columns, added Vauxhall separate from Opel (+60 models).
3442 models from 123 makes (including India), 26 May 2013. Europe version 2006 models from 94 makes.
3470 models from 123 makes, 652 KB as 16 June 2013.
3550 models from 128 makes, 673 KB as 1 August 2013.
3748 models from 134 makes, 724 KB as 1 November 2013. Europe version 2088 models from 99 makes, 364 KB.
3798 models from 135 makes, ? KB, as 1 January 2014.
3840 models from 135 makes, 719 KB, as 25 March 2014. Europe version 2165 models from 100 makes, 375 KB.
3860 models from 136 makes, 722 KB, as 10 July 2014.
3868 models from 137 makes, 725 KB, as 20 August 2014.
3888 models from 138 makes, 770 KB, as 1 October 2014. Europe version 2180 models from 100 makes, 401 KB.
4030 models from 142 makes, 813 KB, as 20 February 2015. Europe version 2263 models from 105 makes, 440 KB.
4090 models from 143 makes, 835 KB, as 1 June 2015. Europe version 2292 models from 106 makes, 454 KB.
4104 models from 143 makes, ? KB, as 1 September 2015.
4143 models from 146 makes, 959 KB, as 12 September 2015. Europe version 2312 models from 108 brands, 464 KB. Added “Sold in India” column, added about 30 more cars for India market.
4200 models from 148 makes, 913 KB, as 15 January 2016. Europe version 2345 models from 111 makes, 465 KB.
~4390 models from 149 makes, unreleased, as 10 February 2016. Many models added from Japanese domestic market.
~4430 models from 149 makes, unreleased, as June 2016. Main yearly update for American cars.
~4590 models from 149 makes, unreleased, as 15 July 2016. Many models added from Japanese domestic market.
4600 models from 151 makes, 1408 KB, as 17 July 2016. Europe version 2419 models from 114 makes, 548 KB. Worldwide edition include also Europe sheet, this is why file size increase.
4620 models from 151 makes, ? KB, as 24 November 2016.
4680 models from 151 makes, 1545 KB, as 20 January 2017. Europe version 2474 models from 114 makes, 562 KB. A big update, checked every brand to add missing models launched in 2016 and few from 2015.
4780 models from 154 makes, 1686 KB, as 10 June 2017. Europe version 2519 models from 116 makes, 638 KB. Main yearly update for America, few additions for Europe, as well as more cars from Japanese domestic market.
4825 models from 155 makes, 1584 KB, as 1 November 2017. Europe version 2558 models from 119 makes, 574 KB. Update focusing primarily on Europe.
4851 models from 155 makes, 1592 KB, as 20 February 2018. Europe version 2573 models from 119 makes, 578 KB. Update focusing primarily on Europe.
5112 models from 164 makes, 1688 KB, as 8 May 2018. Europe version 2726 models from 125 makes, 609 KB. A big update that coincided with main yearly update for American Year-Make-Model, also added few extra makes, added few pre-war cars, added 50 Suzuki domestic models because I missed this make when adding Japanese domestic market in 2016.
5181 models from 164 makes, 1708 KB, as 30 December 2018, some more changes done 15 January 2019. Europe version 2769 models from 126 makes, 723 KB.
5202 models from 164 makes, ? KB, as 10 February 2019, few corrections due to recent update of Year-Make-Model-Trim-Specs and Car Nameplates List.
5240 models from 164 makes, ? KB, as 15 May 2019, update focused on American cars (simultaneous with main yearly update for Year-Make-Model), plus few cars from Europe.
5588 models from 208 makes, 1909 KB, as 20 May 2019. Europe version 3095 models from 167 makes, 722 KB. Added a column that allow you to delete easily the exotic brands, if you want to have a database with only cars commonly seen on roads.
I added over 40 brands / over 300 models. Few of these brands I discovered them on Parkers.co.uk in January 2019 when I created UK Car Database, after this I digged deeper on Wikipedia and added more exotic brands from 1940s-1970s, including the Daimler brand, brands of Rootes Group which collapsed in 1967, French microcars from Aixam and Ligier, Brazilian exotic brands Puma and Santa Matilde, etc. Previously I knew https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_AG as the German company who produce Mercedes cars, I was not aware that there is also a British company with same name https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Company until scraping Parkers.
5660 models from 208 makes, 1931 KB, as 8 December 2019. Europe version 3134 models from 167 makes, 729 KB.
5760 models from 211 makes, 925 KB, as 29 April 2020. Europe version 3183 models from 169 makes, 349 KB. I changed from XLS to compressed XLSX.
5884 models from 214 makes, 949 KB, as 1 November 2020. Europe version 3211 models from 173 makes, 356 KB.
5930 models from 215 makes, 937 KB, as April 2021. Europe version 3251 models from 172 makes, 343 KB.
6031 models from 217 makes, 961 KB, as 8 October 2021. Europe version 3273 models from 173 makes, 361 KB.
6120 models from 219 makes, ? KB, as 10 March 2022. Europe version 3300 models from 173 makes, ? KB.
6264 models from 222 makes, 1019 KB, as 20 May 2022. Europe version 3320 models from 173 makes, 375 KB.
6280 models from 223 makes, ? KB, as October 2022. partial update.
6354 models from 225 makes, 1035 KB, as 18 December 2022. Europe version 3354 models from 172 makes, 385 KB. Deleted BYTON from Europe. Last few years I replaced generation numbers with internal manufacturer codes, if they are known on Wikipedia (especially at Japan and Korean makes), but last year I did this only in Car Models List, while on Year-Make-Model and Year-Make-Model-Trim-Specs generation numbers remained, after a customer complain/suggestion I decided to add back generation number together with manufacturer codes (except for BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, which are well known by manufacturer codes, is difficult to determine how many enough distinct generations of Porsche 911 been produced) and I harmonized all 3 databases.
6440 models from 228 makes, 1068 KB, as 25 May 2023. Europe version 3400 models from 173 makes, 375 KB. Added International Harvester, Rayton-Fissore, VinFast.
Naturally, ~100 new models appear every year, model count may grow more due to historical expansion and adding more non-European models.