Because of technical limitations in the game, the Auto-production overrides any shipping distances and locks you have set.

By default, the Auto-production system sets all shipping distances to global.

The game includes a few tools which allow you to restrict production while you have Auto-production enabled.

To access these tools, with Auto-production enabled, open up the vehicle production screen as if you were going to adjust production.

The Auto-production system has three different restrictions.

The first one is the “Limit Production To Factory Owner Marque.”

When you enable this restriction, factories can only produce vehicles from the same marque that owns the factory. 

You can set and view factory ownership in the View Details window of the Factory.

The drop-down contains the owner. Selecting a new marque from the drop-down will change the owner.

Some situations you would use the “Limit Production to Factory Owner Marque” restriction are if you want to use specific Marques for specific regions. For example, a VENT EU, VENT NA, etc.

Other reasons could include producing luxury marques in specific factories with high ratings to maximize vehicle quality.

Or you may want to clump marques together in one factory because they share the same components, which would reduce production costs.

The next Auto-production restriction is “Restrict Shipping to Same Region/Continent.”

This restriction limits both production and shipping to their local region.

For example, factories in Europe will only produce vehicles for European Branches.

And it restricts European Branch shipping to European only factories.

Players often use this restriction when they have global companies before 1960. Companies with transportation costs problems may want to consider using this restriction.

Both of the restrictions at the top affect all factories.

However, you use the bottom restriction on a per factory basis.

The bottom restriction is the “Limit Production To...” system.

This system lets you set specific vehicles that the game can produce at the selected factory.

The vehicles on the left are vehicles that you can add to the list.

The list on the right is your production list.

If no vehicles are on the right-side list, then the factory can produce all vehicles.

If you click a vehicle on the left, then the right arrow button, the game will move it to the right-side list.

The game limits the factory to produce only the vehicles on the right-side list.

You can add and remove vehicles from the production list as you will.

This restriction is helpful if you want to guarantee the production of certain vehicles at certain factories.

Or if you want to make sure that there is enough production capacity to produce a specific vehicle.

You can also use this restriction district-wide. It will overwrite any individual restrictions you have.

In district mode, you have to add a vehicle to the right-side production list before the game will display the list.

You must click the “Apply” button to save any changes you make on the Auto-production Factory Management screen.

The game allows you to mix and match the restrictions.

It is generally a good idea to have excess production capacity when using Auto-production. This idea is even more true if you plan on restricting production.

For example, let’s say you have 5 production lines in Europe, and you’re selling 7 models there.

If you enable “Restrict Shipping to the Same Region/Continent,” you won’t be able to produce at least two of your vehicles.

And if some of your models use more than one production line, you won’t be able to produce even more vehicle models.

Since you restricted shipping within the Continent, you’ll miss sales on all those models, even if you produce them outside of the region.

So when using the Auto-production, you want excess production lines if possible.