This paper presents an analysis of energy efficiency performance in the automotive industry from evidence of Germany and Colombia in order to show important features in energy use between countries with the different income between 1998 and 2007. We found that the automotive industry improved its energy efficiency in each country. In order to understand the driving forces behind these trends, the concept of the production function is used to obtain the elasticities of substitutions and the relationships between several variables and energy efficiency performance in German and Colombian motor vehicle industries. In both countries, we found that the variables of energy prices and sizes of companies each have a positive influence on the efficiency of the gross production/energy ratio. These results show that, in the motor vehicle industry, energy efficiency performance depends on different factors. Hence, variables such as energy prices, energy taxes, economies of scale and technology changes have played a crucial role in the improvements in productivity and rational energy use. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.