Automobile
A typically four-wheeled automotive vehicle designed for
transportation invented in the late nineteenth century and
destined to have a profound influence on the American
economy.
The modern automobile first appeared on the market in
the 1880s, although it is impossible to credit a single inventor
with its creation. Key inventors included Germans Gottlieb
Daimler, who produced the first modern gas engine and
mounted it on a carriage in 1886, and Karl Benz, who patented a gas-powered vehicle that same year and integrated it
into a three-, then four-wheel, chassis. Though Panhard and
Levassor became the world’s first automobile company, the
Benz Company became the world’s largest producer of automobiles by 1900. Charles and Frank Duryea started making
automobiles in the United States as early as 1888, but the U.S.
automobile industry did not really start until the turn of the
twentieth century. In 1899, Ransom Olds moved to Detroit
and started the Olds Motor Works, and in 1901 he began to
manufacture a standard, relatively affordable, automobile. In
1903, Henry Ford formed his own company, and in 1908 he
revolutionized the American automobile industry with his
Model T. Ford designed the Model T for the average
American, seeking to sell the car to farmers and small business people. This design became even more affordable when
Ford moved production to a new assembly-line factory in
Highland Park, Michigan. With this new system of production, which he coined “mass production,” the Model T
became increasingly affordable, even to the factory workers
who produced the cars. By 1922 it cost just $225. Nearly as
important as the Model T’s mass-producible design was the
network of local dealers and consumer loan opportunities
Ford created. Ford brought production of the Model T to an
end in 1927 after 15 million Model Ts had rolled off the
assembly line. Ford and the Model T inspired a host of competitors, including General Motors (1908).
By 1925 a majority of Americans owned cars. The proliferation of the automobile in the United States led to fundamental cultural, social, and economic changes. Because the
car made cities accessible from greater distances, suburbs
dependent on automobile traffic began to develop in the
1920s; they had another explosive growth period after World
War II. The car spawned a host of leisure and lifestyle institutions, from the self-service grocery store (1916) to the
shopping mall (1923) to the drive-in movie (1933). Car travel
became a vacation activity, and in 1926 the first motel opened
in San Luis Obispo, California.
With the flood of cars came the need for new infrastructure and regulation. The Federal Road Act of 1916 began the
federal government’s effort to transform muddy roads into a
network of interconnected paved highways. In the 1954
Federal-Aid Highway Act, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
authorized $175 million in federal funds on a 60–40 matching basis to states for the construction of the interstate highway system.
Cars themselves became the target of increased safety
engineering in the 1950s and 1960s with the introduction of
technologies borrowed from race cars, such as seat belts, disc
brakes, the collapsible steering column, and head rests.
Following the lead of California, the first state to pass emission controls, Congress passed the 1970 Clean Air Act banning leaded gasoline and requiring catalytic converters to
reduce the toxic emissions of automobiles. Taking advantage
of this legislation and the oil crises of the 1970s, smaller, more
fuel-efficient Japanese cars challenged Detroit, and by 1980
they had captured nearly 30 percent of the American market.
American manufacturers regained a portion of their former market share in the 1980s as consumers demanded
larger, more powerful cars. Through mergers and partnerships with German and Japanese automakers, American
manufacturers introduced cars designed with German influence and produced using Japanese quality control techniques. In addition, globalization has redistributed the
American automobile industry to new regions such as
Toyota’s Kentucky plant, BMW’s South Carolina operations,
and Daimler-Chrysler’s Alabama factory. American manufacturers also moved some production to Mexico and
Canada. A major trade policy issue arose in the 1990s with
U.S. interests pushing for access to protected Asian markets.