An automobile is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting people. Modern cars are complex technical systems with thousands of component parts, most of which have specific design functions. Usually they have four wheels and are powered by internal combustion engines using volatile fuels. The automobile has changed many aspects of life, including the way people work and socialize. It also has brought economic and cultural changes, and it has helped to bring about globalization.
Automobiles have become a major industry, generating trillions of dollars in revenue worldwide and employing millions of people. They are a vital part of the world’s transportation system and have been central to the growth of cities. They have changed the way we live, providing us with more freedom than ever before. They have made it possible for people to live far away from where they work, and they allow families to spend time together without having to take multiple trips on public transportation or fly to visit relatives. Having a car also allows individuals to travel on vacations or business trips in comfort and safety.
Throughout the centuries, humans have been developing and improving the automobile to meet increasing demands for faster and more comfortable travel. The basic technological building blocks are the internal combustion engine and the mechanical transmission. The first automobiles were steam-powered, battery-powered or powered by electricity, but these vehicles had a very limited range and were difficult to start. The introduction of the gasoline-powered automobile in America in the early twentieth century opened up a huge market for auto manufacturers. The American market had a much larger population to draw on than Europe and cheaper raw materials. The American manufacturing tradition of mass production further encouraged the development of the automobile.
Many of the early automobile companies were small shops that produced a handful of handmade cars, nearly all of which failed shortly after beginning operations. The few companies that survived the era of large-scale production had some traits in common. They either had a well-defined product and marketing strategy or had an inexpensive but highly functional design, such as the 1901 Mercedes designed by Wilhelm Maybach for Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. The Oldsmobile introduced in 1904, for example, was a powerful alternative to the horse-drawn carriage and sold at a price within the reach of middle-class Americans.
The automotive industry was stagnant in the 1930s, as market saturation occurred at the same time as technological sluggishness set in. During World War II, automakers devoted most of their production to making military vehicles and other war materiel. As a result, the industry was revitalized in the postwar years by intense marketing and aggressive new models. The question of whether the American engineering and design community would again give priority to nonfunctional styling or to improved quality, economy and safety became an important issue in the 1960s, when questions also arose about automobile pollution and its draining of world oil supplies.