The recent development in automotive catalysis (three-way catalysis, diesel exhaust-gas oxidation, selective reduction of nitrogen oxides in oxidizing media) has been reviewed. Emphasis has been laid on the development of catalyst formulations to meet future tighter emission regulations as well as on new information about catalyst structure and catalytic reaction mechanisms. It has been pointed out that established technologies are being challenged by new approaches (three-way catalyst: Pt-Rh vs. Pd technology, dimethyl ether as alternative diesel fuel), and that the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides by hydrocarbons has arrived at a level that may result in commercial solutions for NOx abatement in Diesel and lean-burn Otto engine exhaust gases in the next future.