When industrialist Henry Ford (1863–1947) introduced his now-famous Model T automobile in 1908, he changed the lives of millions of
Americans.
Ford did not invent the automobile; the Model T was not Ford’s first
car. His contribution to the automotive industry was designing a car that
was so simple and affordable that the average American could own one.
The Model T was that car. In 1908, more than ten thousand of them
sold for $825 (the equivalent of about $19,000 in 2007 using the
Consumer Price Index), each in the first year of production. Because of
innovative production techniques that eventually included the moving
assembly line, the price dropped to $575 (about $12,000 in 2007)
within four years, and sales skyrocketed. By 1914, Ford owned 48 percent of the automobile market. His new car-manufacturing plant was
turning out one Model T every ninety-three minutes. By 1927—years
after the perfection of the assembly line—Ford was producing one car
every twenty-four seconds. The price dropped to $300 (about $3,500 in
2007).
Ford made more than cars. He made it possible for Americans to live
in the country and work in the city. For those who did not like city life,
he allowed for the development of an entirely different lifestyle: the suburbs. His innovations created jobs and allowed for mobility on a scale
never before known. Suddenly, distances between loved ones did not
seem so great, and families could visit relatives or take summer vacations.
Tourism became a major American industry. Weekend jaunts to the
country became a popular pastime, whereas before, the farthest one
could hope to travel in one trip was fifteen miles or so. Horses pulling
wagons or carriages could not be expected to go farther than that.
It can be argued that the introduction of Ford’s economical Model
T had the greatest effect on the lives of women. Where once their lives
centered around the home, if for no other reason than that they had no means of transportation at their disposal, they now could travel conveniently. Rural women could visit their neighbors miles away without
having to leave an entire afternoon open for the walk or horse ride. They
could shop at their local merchants or venture farther to stores where selection and price were more consumer friendly. The car made women
more visible in towns and society in general, giving them an independence and power they had never had.
Thanks to affordable cars, more people could attend colleges and
universities, and hospitals were now more accessible. More cars meant
the development and maintenance of new roads and highways that connected one region to the next. By the 1950s, interstate highways were
built, connecting one end of the country to the other.
America was not the only producer of automobiles, but World War
II (1939–45) bombs had destroyed factories in Japan. Recovery was slow, but Japan produced 1,070 passenger cars in 1949. Throughout the
Korean War (1950–53), Japan served as a supply depot for United
Nations troops—just as the major U.S. automakers had done during
World War II. They manufactured trucks for them, and in addition, produced 1,594 cars in 1950. In 1955, automobile production increased to
20,220, still not enough to pose a threat to America.
Japanese automobile companies realized that most Asians could not
afford vehicles, and if they wanted to stay in business, they would need
to export. In 1957, Toyota sold 288 cars in the United States. The following year was better, with sales at 821. Nissan also chose to export and
sold 1,131 cars and 179 trucks in 1959; another 1,294 cars and 346
trucks sold the following year. In the mid-1960s, Nissan and Toyota
bought some of the smaller Japanese manufacturers, and Mitsubishi
partnered with Isuzu.
Japanese autos were not the only exports to the United States;
German cars, led by Volkswagen, outsold Japanese vehicles throughout
the 1960s and into the 1970s. In fact, Volkswagen opened the first foreign-owned U.S. auto manufacturing plant in 1978 (and closed in 1987
due to increasing Japanese presence). Regardless of where the cars were
made, all the exports were compact. America, meanwhile, continued to
produce larger cars. This proved to be its downfall. When gas prices skyrocketed in 1973, Americans demanded more fuel-efficient cars. In
1975, 695,000 Japanese cars were sold in the United States, and sales
only increased for the remainder of the decade. In 1980, Japan manufactured 7 million automobiles compared to 6.4 million produced by the
United States. Nearly 2 million of those cars were exported, and for the
first time, Japanese car production exceeded that of America and became
the number one manufacturer in the entire world.
In the last decade of the twentieth century, automobile companies
turned to innovation in hopes of revitalizing the market. Automakers developed the sport utility vehicle (SUV), a lighter type of truck that could
be driven on and off the road. As the end of the first decade of the twentyfirst century approached, high gas prices forced automakers to reduce
SUV and truck production in favor of smaller, less gas-guzzling cars.
In 2006, Toyota continued to be the industry leader in manufacturing, followed by General Motors (once the largest U.S. corporation),
Ford, Volkswagen, and Honda.