Everything will be favorable for automakers, if they keep on progressing.

Automakers have enjoyed an unequaled run of success in the United States because of pent-up consumer demand, cheap gas prices and low interest rates. But manufacturers must continue updating their vehicles and improving technology to keep the good times rolling.

Any self-respecting arts-lover living in America or Europe is familiar with a smattering of writers, painters and sculptors from outside the West. But few cultural buffs could name a single composer from, say, China or Turkey, let alone give any detail about them.