The growth of the US Auto Industry put the horse-drawn carriage out of business, making way for the internal combustion engine.
The industry has come such a long in more than a century. In 1895, only four cars were officially registered in the United States, but by 1915 this number grew to more than 3.3 million cars. Entrepreneurs are looking to make money and put their faith in automobiles. In contrast, inventors looked for ways to improve the vehicles already in the market, allowing this to be the industry where many Americans had a hand.
Names You Know Were Present in the Early Years
Legendary names in the auto industry survived for many years. Some have gone by the wayside since the early years, but some are still going strong today. These legendary names include GM, Ford, Olds Motor Company, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pierce-Arrow, Oakland Motor Car, and Stanley Steamer. Today,
Stanley Steamer is the name of a carpet cleaning company, and many of the names listed haven’t survived. We still have GM, Ford, Cadillac, and Chevrolet. Chrysler came later to give us what would be considered the Big Three: Ford, GM, and Chrysler. Most of these auto companies located their headquarters in the Detroit area.
Innovation and the Labor Force
Some will mistakenly tell you that Henry Ford invented the automobile, but he did not. He was instrumental in developing several items we still see today in the US Auto Industry. The most famous innovation of Mr. Ford was the moving assembly line. Nearly all industries use this production line today and have only improved upon the Ford invention.
The earliest automobiles were costly, but when Henry Ford reduced the cost of a Ford car to $825 each in 1909, these vehicles became something everyone could afford and wanted to drive. Ford also increased his workers’ average pay to double the previous amount and cut the workday from 9 hours to 8 hours.
These various innovations allow a Model T to improve production times significantly. In 1913, the production time was 12 hours 8 minutes, and by 1927, this car could be made every 24 seconds. This allowed the Model T to become the most popular car globally for a long time, at least until the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed it many decades later.
No one predicted what came next.
The Depression Hit, Impacting the Entire Country
Although the Great Depression hit the country and crippled nearly every industry, the US Auto Industry continued to move forward. Many jobs were lost, but companies, including Chrysler and DeSoto, made cars with new streamlined designs. Even though the Depression hit in 1929, by 1934, nearly 40% of American families owned cars.
During the Depression, the United Auto Workers Union was organized in 1935, creating a union for the auto industry. This union helped gain better wages and benefits for auto workers even though the block went o strike several times in the following years. Each time, workers were able to gain more benefits from their respective companies.
The first fully automatic transmissions arrived in 1940 in the GM brands Oldsmobile and Cadillac. A year later, Packard was the first brand to bring air conditioning to the industry to give the public a great way to stay cool while driving.
Car Production Halted During World War II
The vast resources and manufacturing in the United States turned the US Auto Industry into the great war machine to battle the Germans and Japanese on two different fronts. During the few years of the war, only 139 passenger vehicles were made in the United States for civilians. Everything else was made for the war effort, including Jeeps, tanks, trucks, and armored cars—those who had cars needed to keep them running during the war because new ones were not available.
The Boom of Demand
Everything boomed after the war, giving way to the Baby Boomer generation and incredible US economic growth. Consumers were looking for new cars, new homes, and new everything. In 1948, the 100 millionth car rolled off the production line. Several innovations followed this historic event.
The Insurgence of Japanese Brands
By 1958 a couple of Japanese brands arrived in the United States. Toyota and Datsun hit the market and began to give us a variety of small, fuel-efficient cars that weren’t the popular right way. When the oil embargo occurred in 1973, small foreign vehicles became more popular than ever as many Americans faced limitations at the gas pump they had never seen before.
The Japanese brands became so popular that Honda eventually opened a US factory. This was only the first foreign companies to figure out that building vehicles where they are sold make the most sense.
What do We See Today?
The US Auto Industry of today is one in which nearly every American owns and drives a car. In 2012 there were 250 million vehicles registered and on the road in America. There are more roads than ever, and electric vehicles’ birth has begun. Fast forward less than a decade, and we have an industry looking toward cars that can drive themselves while new electronic devices are made each year.
The automotive industry has grown, developed, faced recession, the Great Depression, and war, and continued to flourish. The current market we see faces a shortage of a specific electronic part needed to operate computers in the vehicles being built. Not more than 40 years ago, computers weren’t even included in any cars, from the mechanical to the electronic, from cars that barely drive at 8 miles per hour to vehicles that can travel at more than 200 mph on a track.
Looking back at the history of the US Auto Industry makes us wonder what the future is for this particular market area. Will we have cars that drive themselves? Will we have a completely electric auto market? What’s next for this specific part of the economy?
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