Think you've got it hard moving the auto sales needle at your dealership in 2016? Imagine selling cars in 1931, two years into the Great Depression. 

The 40s were worse and you can guess why. For much of that decade, production of cars and trucks was halted in favor of wartime materials. Think ration cards and Rosie the Riveter. The 50s saw a boom in more than just the baby making industry. GIs had money to spend; there was a true middle class; and the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 added 41,000 more miles to our Interstate Highway System, so auto sales took off.

Starting with the 60s, the rest of the data is a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma. As it turns out, free love didn't mean free cars and auto sales did quite well despite the burgeoning tree hugging movement of the 60s and 70s. Muscle cars and gas guzzlers abound, why did the 70s fair so well staring down the barrels of a gas crisis?

The 80s saw the first decade-after-decade decline in auto sales, yet truck sales continued to soar. The 90s and 2000s saw this trend continue to the point where more trucks than cars were sold.

With crossovers, hybrids, electrics and maybe even a few of these, what will this decade's data reveal? Take a look at the infographic below and comment on what you are seeing and why you think the data is the way it is.

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