History of the Automobile

The history of the automobile is full of triumphs and failures of both small and epic proportions. In this article, we cover a brief summary of that history.

Any discussion of the history of the automobile surely must start with the very first one produced, right? While this is a logical choice, it is not necessarily an easy place to start. The problem is nobody really knows who created the first automobile and when. It could have been a Jesuit Priest who created a small transport for the Emperor of China or a French inventor who created a vehicle that was never actually used. You can read more about the debate HERE.

Given the confusion, I’ve chosen to skip forward and start this history lesson with the undisputed father of the modern automobile. You should recognize his last name – Karl Benz. He was the first man to create an automobile that constituted at least a framework of what we have today. It was a four cylinder, internal combustion engine on a movable vehicle. It actually worked and he was soon selling them under the name Benz & Cie. The car was licensed to manufacturers around the world and was particularly popular in France. The company, of course, would ultimately become Mercedes Benz.

Although Benz is the father of modern automobiles, he is not the father of CHEAP versions. That title goes to none other than Henry Ford. His ideas helped the automobile evolve from something only the rich could afford to a machine everyone could. It was all about large scale, production line manufacturing. This allowed for the production of far more vehicles at far cheaper prices. It is still the method used to this very day by every auto manufacturer producing significant numbers of cars in the world today. This approach also, of course, created the Ford Motor Company and turned it into a world leader.

The next major development in the history of the automobile occurred in the early 1970s. Two events occurred that are still impacting us today. The production of oil in the United States “peaked”. This means we reached our maximum oil production level and have been dropping ever since then. The second thing that occurred was Saudi Arabia created an oil embargo due to its unhappiness with U.S. policy in the Middle East. These two events combined to create the first gas shortages. This resulted in many political issues, but also a major development in automobiles.

Gas mileage became a big issue for the first time ever. Americans started buying compact cars supplied by Japanese automakers Honda and Toyota at staggering rates. These cars were cheap, reliable and had good gas mileage. American cars were still big, unreliable and got terrible gas mileage. This started a fundamental shift in both the buying habits and views of consumers regarding the vehicles they drove. American automakers would make a comeback, but the bankruptcy of Chrysler and expected bankruptcy of General Motors speaks volumes of the shift.

As I am writing this, the history of the automobile is taking another turn. The idea of the hybrid or electric car was laughable 10 years ago. This is no longer the case. We are about to face another oil shortage. Unfortunately, this one is not political. Whereas the United States peaked in oil production in the early 1970s, the world is about to peak now. We are not running out of oil, but demand will heavily outstrip it and that will mean skyrocketing prices.

There is now a race on to create hybrids and electric cars that are not dependent on oil. The Toyota Prius and Honda Insight are certainly the leading vehicles in this regard. Should General Motors survive bankruptcy, there Chevrolet Volt could be the first mass produced electric car. It is both a scary and exciting time in the automobile industry.

There is one definite thing we can take from the history of the automobile. It is not complete. The state of automobiles ten years form now in 2019 will be much different than what we have now. The same can be said for 2029 and 2039 as well.

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