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Duryea Motor Wagon Company Creates the First Car in the U.S.
1895 marks the year the first gasoline-powered 'car' was produced in the U.S., with thousands more to follow in the years to come. -
George B. Selden Files a patent for a Motorized Four-Wheel Car
This patent meant that Selden would take a fee on any automobile produced in the U.S. He had meticulously crafted the details of the patent to apply to most any vehicle SIXTEEN years prior to the filing of the patent. -
Ford Motor Company Established
Henry Ford, who had been building cars since 1896, began to sell them. -
General Motors Corporation Established
The General Motors Company (GMC), would be one of the 'Big Three', the three largest automobile manufacturers in the U.S. -
Henry Ford fights Selden's Patent (and Wins!)
Henry Ford argued in court that Selden's patent hindered the further production of automobiles. -
Ford Utilizes the Assembly Line
Burgeoning technology, Ford adopted the assembly line to car production, and sped things up immensely. -
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The Federal Aid Road Acts
The Federal Aid Road Acts allocated a large sum of Government money toward the construction and upkeep of a connected road system throughout the States. Beginning in 1916, the project would not be complete until 1924. -
The Birth of the Chrysler Corporation
Walter Chrysler acquired Maxwell Motor Company, and re-titled it the Chrysler Corporation, acquiring Dodge in 1927, and establishing the company as one of the Big Three. -
The Great Depression
The 1930's would spell death for many existing automobile companies, who could not compete against the Big Three. -
World War II
Following the attacks on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. would join World War II. This meant that all existing manufacturing plants were converted into war production, creating tanks, planes, Jeeps, and engines for the military. While this meant that automobile production struggled, the companies did not. The large amount of government spending on these resources meant that the existing motor companies could afford to expand production. -
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Post-War
After WWII, there was a bit of a stumble on returning to automobile production, but they quickly recovered and applied what they had learned from war production to commercial and civilian vehicles, leading to larger cars with more power. -
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Growth
Throughout the 1960's and early 1970's, automobiles became a must for American citizens, and following the increase in urban populations, a large majority moved to suburban areas. Cars continued to grow in terms of size and power, and became a core of America's culture. Vehicles also began to be imported in this time, and The Big Three still held a large stake in the market. -
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Regulations
Alongside the growth and technological improvements came research on motor vehicles, and the realization that they were terribly unsafe. Ralph Nader's 'Unsafe at Any Speed' shone the brightest spotlight on the issue, and would result in a series of regulations on motor vehicles, like lap and shoulder belts, head restraints, stronger steering columns, and a number of emission-related regulations made. -
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The 70's
The 1970's marked a shift in the U.S. Automotive Industry. The Big Three, who had owned the market for the past 20 years, would begin to see foreign auto makers selling cars on their turf. Companies like Volkswagen and Toyota would sell a relatively small volume of vehicles, but showed a sign of what was to come. A series of oil crises, and the companies inability to meet the demand for fuel-efficient autos furthered the stake these imported manufacturers gained. -
The 1973 Oil Crisis
In 1973, the U.S. would experience an oil crisis the likes of which they'd never seen. This was because OAPEC, the premier oil supplier in the world had placed an embargo upon countries who had supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War, the U.S. being one of them. This oil crisis limited the amount of oil the U.S. could import, and lead to a serious increase in prices as people were forced to ration out oil. This negatively affected US automakers who were used to selling fuel-inefficient cars, -
The (Second) Oil Crisis
Following a turbulent decade of trying to keep up, the Iranian Revolution happened, and a second oil price spike occurred. This devastated the economy, and hurt automakers going into the 1980's. Notably, Chrysler had to ask the Government for a bailout. -
Team-Up Stories
With the increased prevalence of THREE major Japanese brands on American soil, the American Big Three saw the opportunity to collaborate with them. In fact, Chrysler had already purchased a decent stake in Mitsubishi Motors, Ford would work with Mazda Motor Corporation, and GM would invest in Toyota, as well as Suzuki and Isuzu. These "alliances" meant that the Japanese companies would thrive, and in turn benefit the American ones. This process also involved re-badging. -
Japanese Auto Makers enter the Voluntary Export Restraint Placed Upon Them
In 1981, Japanese automakers would be limited by the number of automobiles they could sell in the U.S. This lead to the creation of luxury Japanese divisions, as well as the establishment of Japanese auto manufacturing plants on U.S. soil, getting around the export restraints entirely. -
The MINIVAN
The ever-common whale of the tarmac, the minivan. In 1984, Lee Iacocca, head of Chrysler, introduced an entirely new concept to the automotive world, a smaller iteration of traditionally work-related vehicles, dubbed "the minivan". And it caught ON. Their minivan, the Dodge Caravan/Chrysler Town And Country was the best-selling vehicle in America for 25 years, and you still see many, many, MANY minivans around today. -
Acquisitions, Acquisitions...
Throughout the 80's, American Autos endured a large period of growth. Fuel prices had leveled back out, and they could afford to expand business once again. Chrysler acquired AMC, and by extension, Jeep, as well as Lamborghini. Ford would acquire Jaguar and Aston Martin. GMC wouldn't acquire anything, but they would establish Saturn and EV1. These acquisitions would lead an increase in the quality and sophistication of the technology in their vehicles, and FWD would become the standard. -
Truck-SUV Superiority
By the mid-90's, SUV's and light trucks dominated the U.S. auto market. Every manufacturer had them in their line-up, and it lead to greater sales overall. The Big Three would also continue to invest in other companies, with GM purchasing a hefty stake in Saab, Daewoo, and Subaru. They would also purchase Hummer. Ford would buy Land Rover and Volvo, and both would invest heavily in joint Chinese-American ventures. -
More Foreign Competition
In the late 90's, even more companies saw the opportunities that setting up shop in America would provide, and the likes of BMW, Mercedes, VW, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Honda... The list goes on and ON. Point being, the rest of the world saw the writing on the wall and got into the market where they could. -
Chrysler gets BOUGHT??? (real)
In 1998, Mercedes moved to "merge" with Chrysler, but the "merge" turned into a buyout. So, Mercedes owned Chrysler, and despite their great performance throughout the 80's and 90's, Chrysler just kinda... sucked? So, after butting heads for a couple of years, Mercedes just sold Chrysler again, and they were technically American once again. -
Discontinuations
Following the 9/11 attacks and a decent recession coming into the 21st century, auto manufacturers continued to struggle with staying afloat. Chrysler and GM discontinued the Plymouth and Oldsmobile brands, the first of many in the decade. -
Oil Price Inflation... Again!
For no specific reason at all not relating to a certain response to a terrorist attack on America, oil prices were on the rise! Again! This was an issue, and fuel-inefficient vehicles began to drop off in popularity, which hurt the Big Three's profits. This, combined with the fun home mortgage loan situation going would lead to... -
THE 2007 HOUSING MARKET CRASH!
And what a crash it was! In the years following, auto makers would struggle financially, and between 2008 and 2010, GM would approach the U.S. government for a bailout, which the government would eventually acquiesce to. Bush would give GM and Chrysler 17 BILLION dollars. Despite continued attempts to keep the company afloat, Chrysler would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April of 2009, being auctioned off to Fiat. -
Ford Fared Fairly Financially Fine
Ford actually fared quite well in this time. They had sold most of the companies they had bought previously, and the only things to go in this time period were Volvo and the closing of Mercury's doors. -
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The 2010's
Coming into the 2010's, Chrysler had fallen off from the Big Three into fourth place, with Toyota taking the spot. All of the companies continued to fare well, but Fiat (now Fiat Chrysler) would assume ownership of all of their subsidiary companies. In 2017, GM would sell their European brands, citing low profits, and announced the eventual closure of longstanding Austrailian brand Holden. And to round out the decade, Ford and GM announced the discontinuation of most of their passenger vehicles. -
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The 2020's, the Present, and the Future
...And so here we are. Today. In 2020, GM finally killed Holden. In 2021, Fiat Chrysler merged with Peugeot to create Stellantis, GM announced a plan to be all electric by 2035, Ford only produces trucks, SUV's, and Mustangs, while GM offers a severely limited suite of vehicles. We're at a point in time where the electric craze is at an all-time high, and the long term looks... like something. I think we're going to have a lot of hiccups on the way to where we're going.