In this survey paper, we critique the optimization studies on the distribution of finished vehicles from automobile manufacturers to dealers in the past three decades and propose promising prospective research to minimize the gap between industrial practice and academic research. First, we identify major decision makers involved in automobile distribution, summarize service models, and briefly describe the automobile shipping practice by transportation mode. After defining the automobile shipping optimization problem at the operational level, we present the automobile distribution problem taxonomy by classifying existing studies by the level of decision making, mode of transportation, and type of optimization decisions. Each subcategory of studies is reviewed in detail through comparisons by objective function, constraints, formulation, solution algorithm, and test instances. We conclude this survey paper by summarizing major review outcomes and proposing potential research directions. This survey will stimulate interested transportation researchers to conduct further research to keep pace with the rapid evolution of the automobile shipping practice.

在本调查报告中，我们对过去三十年来从汽车制造商到经销商的成品车分配优化研究进行了评论，并提出了有前途的前瞻性研究，以最大程度地减少工业实践与学术研究之间的差距。首先，我们确定参与汽车分销的主要决策者，总结服务模型，并按运输方式简要描述汽车运输实践。在运营层面定义了汽车运输优化问题之后，我们通过对现有研究进行决策水平，运输方式和优化决策类型进行分类，从而提出了汽车配送问题分类法。通过对目标功能，约束条件，表述，解决方案算法和测试实例。我们通过总结主要的审查结果并提出潜在的研究方向来结束本调查报告。这项调查将激发有兴趣的运输研究人员进行进一步的研究，以跟上汽车运输实践的快速发展。