The automobile, or car, has had a tremendous impact on the world of commerce and social life since its invention in the late nineteenth century. It has made the personal freedom of travel more readily available and created new industries and jobs for manufacturing, distribution, and service. It has also had an adverse effect on the environment, as its emissions of carbon dioxide and other chemicals into the air increase global temperatures and pollutes our waters.
The scientific and technical building blocks of the automobile go back several hundred years to the time when Christian Huygens developed a type of internal combustion engine sparked by gunpowder. The development of the modern automobile began in Germany and France toward the end of the 1800s with the emergence of manufacturers such as Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz, and Nicolaus Otto. These inventors patented the first modern motor cars.
At the turn of the twentieth century Henry Ford invented mass production techniques that sparked a revolution in the industry. This led to the dominance of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, which accounted for 80 percent of the American market. Many smaller producers were forced to fold as the economy of scale brought price competition down to a manageable level. During the 1950s questions arose about automobile safety and the quality of design, as well as their high fuel consumption that was causing the depletion of world oil reserves. These issues opened the market to foreign automobile manufacturers, especially German and Japanese fuel-efficient, functionally designed, well-built small cars.
