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Automotive history

The 'Ancestor' of Car

In the ancient society, people have invented a simple manoeuvring tool. They placed pieces of round wood under the heavy objects and by dragging them, heavy objects can now be moved from one place to another. This is called the early days wooden wheel transport.

Subsequently, it was discovered that wooden wheels with larger radius can achieve faster speed and therefore the radius of wooden wheels kept increasing. They slowly transformed into wheels with lever and became the prototype of today's car model.

Development History

A Breif historical account on the car development

During the sixteenth century, Europe was at the eve of Renaissance. Makers of horse-drawn carriage in the Europe had caused much stir as they attained great improvement on their craftsmanship. In the mid 16th century, four-wheeled levered carriage was massively produced. This type of carriage allows change of direction due to the steering wheel. On the carriage body, there were enclosed captivity and flexible doors design. Furthermore, springs were used for the connection between the carriage body and levered-wheels. The sprung carriage creates suspension and gives great comfort for passengers.

Between 19th and early 20th century, industrial revolutions in some capitalistic countries in the Europe and America continents have almost came to an end. With enormous increment of productivity on a larger scale, demand for a better development in the transportation system was also intensifying. After the first car was independently made in Germany by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in 1886, many countries followed suit to make their own cars and this rendered the automobile manufacturing a fast-changing industry. France made their first car in 1890, followed by America in 1893, Great Britain in 1896, Japan in 1907 and Russia in 1910.

The world automobile development history spans for about 110 years. During the period of 20-30 years from late 19th century till the First World War, it was an era of great inventions by car experimentalists. That period also represents an earlier formation of car manufacturing industries. Since 1886, the classics automobile producer, Germany, turned their eyes to massive automobile production.

Till 1901, there were 12 automobile manufacturers in Germany which accounted for the production of 884 cars. Seven years later, automobile factories increased rapidly to 53 and produced 5547 cars each year. Not only these supplied the domestic market in Germany, they were also sold in foreign markets. Nevertheless, Benz and Daimler (or known as DMG) remained the oldest, largest and most renowned car manufacturers.

In 1913 before the First World War broke out, the automobile industry in Germany has formed an independent industry. According to statistics in 1914, the annual car production in Germany is 20,000 units and car ownership has reached the number of 100,000. In 1893, the first American car was made by Duryea brothers and 3 years later, more and more people were involved in the car manufacturing businesses. Henry Ford and Ransom Olds are two of the most well known representatives. Mr. Ford is the founder of the American Ford Automobile and the company manufactured the first car in 1896. In 1902, 9000 units of car have been manufactured in the America.

Development in Japan

The Development Of Automobile Industries in Japan

Mr. Shintaro Yoshida is generally regarded as the father of automobile industry in Japan. Mr. Yoshida founded an automobile factory in 1904 in Tokyo and produced the first entirely Japanese-made car, Takuri No.1 three years later. After that, more and more car manufacturers were established, similar to what happened in the 80's in China. Due to military demand, the Japanese government promulgated the "Military Cars Incentives Act" to provide financial support for automobile manufacturers and this became the driving force for automobile industry development in Japan.

After the defeat in the Second World War, the Imperial General Headquarters instructed for a complete inhibition of car production in Japan. However the law was not enforced. Several car manufacturers such as Honda, Toyo Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries subsequently launched their new car models. In the early 50s', however, America and Europe-made cars were prevalent in the Japanese automobile market and the situation was worsening due to the affordable cheap prices of small car models. This proved to be detrimental for an automobile industry which had past its heyday. At that juncture, the Japanese government has decided to impose custom tax as high as 40% on imported cars, in order to protect the local automobile industry (This taxation law was however abolished in 1978 and till now taxes are exempted for imported cars). At the same time, foreign capitals and investment were not allowed to infiltrate the Japan automobile industry. In order to survive, small holders of the automobile industry gradually adopted joint ventures with foreign car manufacturers, in the name of "business cooperation" or "technical cooperation". Only Honda remained independent and relies on itself to develop national-made car models. and Russia in 1910.

In 1965, officiation of an express highway that connects Nagoya and Kobe cities opens up an era of high speed transportation in Japan. Since then, cars have become a common property and the explosive car ownership greatly stimulates consumer spending on cars. By 1967, Japan has surpassed Germany to become the second largest automobile manufacturer country in the world.

In 70s', two occurrences of "petrol crisis" enhanced the popularity of small and fuel-efficient Japanese-made car. Automobile exports increased exponentially and Honda, Nissan, Fuji Heavy Industries and Suzuki rapidly became the world class automobile manufacturers. From 1772 to 1976 Honda had manufactured 10 million units automobile in 4 years time. In 1980, total car production in Japan had reached 11.04 million units and beat U.S. to become the largest car manufacturer and exporter in the world.

Massive export to U.S. has created huge trade deficits for the U.S. and this U.S-Japan car trading issue escalated to become a political one which affects the diplomatic ties between the two countries. To avoid further conflict and remain unaffected, Toyota, Honda and Nissan have moved their production plants to the American soil.

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