How many cylinders cars have: the decline of the V8
The number of cylinders in the biggest engine of each new car generation, decade by decade: from the V8 era to today’s four- and three-cylinder engines.
- 1950sn = 5124%24%41%
- 1960sn = 9915%9%71%
- 1970sn = 7221%14%63%
- 1980sn = 6038%30%23%
- 1990sn = 8936%26%27%9%
- 2000sn = 16622%25%36%16%
- 2010sn = 27843%17%23%10%
- 2020sn = 11045%23%16%10%
Key findings
- Eight cylinders dominated the 1960s: 70.7% of generations had an eight-cylinder engine as their biggest.
- In the 2020s four-cylinder engines lead with 44.5%; eight cylinders are down to 15.5%.
- Three-cylinder engines first show up in the 1950s and reach 7.3% in the 2020s.
Data table
| Decade | Generations | Up to 3 cyl. | 4 cyl. | 5 cyl. | 6 cyl. | 8 cyl. | 10+ cyl. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 51 | 7.8% | 23.5% | 0.0% | 23.5% | 41.2% | 3.9% |
| 1960s | 99 | 4.0% | 15.2% | 0.0% | 9.1% | 70.7% | 1.0% |
| 1970s | 72 | 0.0% | 20.8% | 1.4% | 13.9% | 62.5% | 1.4% |
| 1980s | 60 | 1.7% | 38.3% | 1.7% | 30.0% | 23.3% | 5.0% |
| 1990s | 89 | 1.1% | 36.0% | 1.1% | 25.8% | 27.0% | 9.0% |
| 2000s | 166 | 1.8% | 21.7% | 0.0% | 24.7% | 35.5% | 16.3% |
| 2010s | 278 | 4.7% | 43.2% | 2.5% | 16.5% | 23.0% | 10.1% |
| 2020s | 110 | 7.3% | 44.5% | 0.0% | 22.7% | 15.5% | 10.0% |
Methodology
Each generation is counted once, in the class of its largest engine (by number of cylinders): up to 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 (seven-cylinder rarities included) and 10 or more. Shares add up to 100% per decade. Electric versions have no cylinders and are not counted.
Passenger cars only: trucks, buses and vans are excluded (the same rule as our rankings).
Decades with fewer than 8 generations are not shown; the table gives the number of generations behind every figure.
Values come from the 1CARS catalog. Part of the specifications are extracted from our articles and not yet checked by an editor; obvious outliers are excluded. Figures describe the cars in our catalog, not the whole market.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit “1CARS” and link to this page. License terms.