A production vehicle is one that is put into mass production, as a model produced in large numbers and offered for sale to the public. It is the vehicle you can actually go out and buy [1].
Production vehicle was begun in the 19th century by Karl Benz when he built twenty-five Benz Patent Motorwagens during the period between 1886 and 1893.
When used in motorsports the term is quite exact and a certain number of a model must be produced in order to qualify for the term. For example, Briggs Cunningham's business was classified as a hobby by the United States tax officials because he did not manufacture enough of each model for the Cunningham automobile to be considered a production vehicle, but rather they classified them as high-performance prototype automobiles built as racecars.
Motor vehicle production statistics are available for countries worldwide, by country, make, and model. Production statistics by country and by model, as far as announced, are available for each make as well.[2]
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Pre-production cars come after prototypes or development mules, which themselves are preceded by concept cars. Pre-production vehicles are followed by production vehicles in the mass production for distribution through car dealerships.