In The United States

• the Depression causes a slump in US automotive sales. Industry volume skids to 2,910,187 passenger cars and 599,991 trucks
• Population is 122.7 million; life expectancy is 61 years. One of every 5 Americans owns an automobile
• the top speed for new cars was 60 mph; fuel efficiency was 25 miles per gallon
• fuel consumption for US automobiles averages 599 gallons of gasoline per year
• life expectancy for the tires on a typical automobile has risen to 2½ years
• General Motors cars sport tilted windshields
• the first front-wheel drive cars offered to the public were the Gardner, the Cord, and the Auburn
• Institute of Traffic Engineers founded
• Edward Bassett coins the word "freeway" for urban roads designed for trucks, as well as the passenger cars allowed on parkways
• Engineer Franklin Pillsbury projects Route 128, the first suburban beltway
• Police departments start putting radios in cars
• Michelin closes its US factory
• National Auto Chamber of Commerce announces a plan to spend $10 million removing 360,000 unsafe older cars from the road
• East Texas oil field open
• the first practical and affordable car radio is designed and produced by the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. The original model 5T71 radio sells for between $110 and $130, and can be installed in most popular automobiles.
• Paul V Gavin, founder of Gavin Manufacturing Corporation, coins the name "Motorola" for the company's new car radio, effectively linking the ideas of "motion" and "sound." Motorola becomes the brand name of Gavin Manufacturing's products
• Carl Wickman's bus empire Northland Transportation Company extends bus service across the nation and  becomes known as The Greyhound Corporation and adopted the running dog as its trademark
• U.S. Congress votes $300 million for road construction on April 4
• 100,000 new drivers reported in U.S. over last year
• On July 3, auto plants reopen in Detroit, sending 150,000 back to work

US Auto Manufacturers

• Ford tops Chevrolet in production but Chevrolet's "Stovebolt Six" is gaining popularity
• Cadillac offers a V-12 and a V-16. It also offers power brakes. Cadillac engines have automatic hydraulic tappet clearance adjustment to reduce maintenance
• Chrysler's new "Steelweld" bodies us few wooden elements
• Hupmobile claims to be the first American car with an oil cooler
• The "Great Eight" Hudsons debut as the sixes depart
• a twin engine Nash Eight is new this year
• Ford V-8 engine experiments are begun in secret
• Cadillac, Chrysler, Dodge, LaSalle, Marmon, and Roosevelt are wired for radio installation
• A revised Model A Ford debuts with taller hood-to body lines and smaller balloon tires
• Franklin sport new styling and a reworked supercharged engine
• Oakland abandons its six-cylinder engine, turns to an unreliable V-8
• Studebaker pioneers free-wheeling, starting a trend that will last several years; develops a carburetor-intake silencer; installs helical gears in its transmission
• Graham-Paige uses rubber-cushioned springs and drops the "-Paige" suffix from car badges
• a front-drive Gardner is announced but only a few prototypes are built

And From Around the World

• Austin opens an American plant in Butler Pennsylvania, and begins building American Austins
• Britain eliminates the speed limit. Over the next four years accident mortality climbs 50%
• British car registration passes 1 million mark
• Paris, with the highest densities in Europe, bans parking from many downtown streets. begins forcing horses off the streets, and starts replacing trolleys with buses. Most narrow streets are already one-way
• The world total production reached a figure just over 4.1 million units. Britain, where automobiles remain a luxury item, surpass France to become the world's leading producer of automobiles with 237,000 units. The French report production of 230,000 units. The Japanese, a newcomer in the field of automobile production, reports a total production of 500 units
• Bavaria: world's 1st auto race on ice won by German Hans Stuck in a Daimler  on February 9