Band 7+: Task 1: You have approximately 20 minutes to complete this task. The chart below gives information on the amount of time taken to manufacture a vehicle by four US-based car producers between 1998 and 2002. Provide an overview of the information by identifying and describing the key details, and include comparisons where appropriate.

The given illustration demonstrates the duration required to assemble a vehicle by US-based car manufacturers from 1998 to 2002.

Overall, most US-based car producers reduced their vehicle production times between 1998 and 2002, with the exception of Ford. In 1998, Nissan recorded the highest vehicle production time, but by 2002, it had the lowest.

A similar trend was seen in the amount of time taken to manufacture a vehicle by Nissan and GM over a period of four years. In terms of Nissan, the figure decreased rapidly from approximately 37 hours per vehicle in 1998 to 24 hours per vehicle in 2000, before reaching a low of 22 hours in the next two years. Similarly, GM’s production time dropped sharply from 32 hours in 1998 to roughly 25 hours in 2002.

In the initial year, Daimler Chrysler’s (DC) production time fell by about three hours, while the data for Ford increased slightly to nearly 26 hours. The amount of time taken to produce a vehicle for DC and Ford rose remarkably to around 31 hours and approximately 27 hours respectively, then in 2002, the figure for DC made up the highest with about 28 hours, closely followed by Ford with 27 hours.