Car brochures are issued by manufacturers to promote and help sell their products. That is their main purpose. There are many types of brochures issued: These include:

Range Brochures:

Specific Model Brochures:
Price Guides:
Accessories Brochures:
Colour & Trim Guides:
Road Test Reprints:
Press Kits:
Dealer Literature:

Company Magazine:
Handbooks:

Misc:

These have a summary of the entire range available.
Issued for a particular model, year or special edition.
Either for one model or for the whole range.
Showing all dealer or factory fit accessories available.
Either for one model or for the whole range.
Issued by manufacturers and reprinted from magazine tests.
Normally handed out to journalists at Motor Shows & Launches.
These are brochures for dealer or factory staff only and are not for public use. Can be for training, updates or new model launches.
Issued by manufacturers with articles on models and lifestyle.
These are supplied with each new vehicle and contain much
detailed information about the car, operations and specs.
Items such as novelties, CD-ROM's, posters, models etc.

Some brochures are simple leaflets handed out in vast quantities such as from Motor Shows. Others can be very lavish and expensive to produce books, only given to select customers. The rarest ones are the prestige items or the dealer only brochures, as the print run on these are usually very low. But all these items are only available from manufacturers for a limited time. Once the model is replaced, or the brochure is out-of-date, then collectors have to resort to specialist literature dealers, internet sites, autojumbles, car clubs and other resources.

People collect Auto Literature for many reasons. Some collect particular manufacturers' literature, Porsche, Audi or BMW for example. Others collect brochures for the cars they have owned, or are hoping to own. Others collect because they enjoy reading about the trends, fashions and technology behind cars at the time. Some just try to collect every brochure printed. (This was my reason for starting, hence this website and ebay as I now realise it was an impossible task!!). There are many more reasons I am sure, but all will at some stage have difficulty in tracing that one elusive item.