Well, eventhough i admire your approach ryan, I think it is still best for him to answer him. He has been warned that this type of stuff gets him (periodically) banned, so he should put more effort into searching and reading if he doesn’t want to get banned.
On topic: The stats you named can be used as you record score (like in Game Dev Tycoon for example, reaching new design, or sound records). Of course, better quality cars with higher scores, will affect your business reputation in a positive, or when done badly, in a negative way. Different regions of the world (I believe the devs are going for the continental approach, instead of country based(would like country based more though)) will have different request for different target audiences. So imagine in the 70s, safety is a bigger issue in US/Europe, but in China/Africa they are glad if they are given at least something to drive with.
I hope this clears up your question, and PLEASE, search next time! If the first search doesn’t bring up anything related, make sure you make a second search with a different word related to the question!
Last we’ve seen the world map, it was between those two, with continents split into regions (a bit smaller then they were in Detroit, but larger than individual countries.
Topic locked as requested by OP, and as everyone else said, please use the search function next time. It’s great that you have so many ideas, but please make use of the forum features and search for it.