The History of the Automotive Industry

Halie Gillow

Mrs.Baker

Literary Analysis

February 11, 2021

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Halie Gillow

Mrs.Baker

Literary Analysis

February 11, 2021

The History of the Automotive Industry

The automotive industry has changed so much since it started that oftentimes no one

thinks about the beginning of it. With all of the new advancements to cars, it’s hard to believe

that at one time there was a car as simple as the Model T. Around the 1920s the automotive

industry had both growth and struggles as it advanced American society.

Henry Ford played a major role in the beginning of the automotive industry. He wanted to

dedicate himself “to the production of an efficient and reliable automobile” that everyone would

be able to afford (“Ford”). He spent all of his free time working on building the perfect car and

eventually he came up with the Model T. The Model T was not the first automobile that Ford

made but it was the first successful one. Before he knew it Ford had more orders than he knew

what to do with. (“Ford”). Because the Model T was so successful, Ford had to invest in mass

production techniques that would eventually lead to the assembly line. The assembly line made

the production of cars much faster, making more cars available for consumers. The fast

production of automobiles eventually led to the United States having major economic power

(Marcin). Although at this point in time, Ford was the leader of the automotive industry, it did

not stay like that.

Not long after Ford was founded, a guy named William Durant founded a car company

called General Motors. General Motors grew into a giant corporation who “would dominate the

American auto industry for decades” (“Durant”). Ultimately Durant wanted the same things as
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Ford, he just wanted to be better. To be better he figured that he just had to produce more cars so

instead of being like Ford and only producing one type of car at a time, he would “produce a

wide variety of cars for a wide variety of consumers” (“Durant”). When Durant founded General

Motors he was producing more cars than Ford could keep up with. Ford knew he had to up his

game to stay in business. This is where competition became a major role in the advancement of

the United States economy. The two of them didn't stay without competition for very long. A

man named Walter Chrysler founded Chrysler in 1925 and the three companies became known

as the Big Three (“Automobile”). After Chrysler joined the picture the industry became

complete. Within the three companies, consumers could find what they wanted, for the price they

could afford. It was a dream for American people.

The industry couldn’t stay going upwards forever though. With the industry booming,

metal became scarce and the “quality materials used to build the cars” were nowhere to be found

(Kuziak). The Big Three used all of their resources during World War Two to build military

vehicles that by the time the war was over, there was no resources to build new cars. With this

scarcity of materials in the United States, the economy started seeing massive decay. At the

lowest point Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler thought they were gonna go out of business.

During this time, many people tried to create their own companies to hop on the bandwagon but

not many of them were successful (“Automobile”). It wasn't just the automotive industry that

was struggling. The whole United States was struggling after the war. The country slid into what

we know today as The Great Depression. Although The Great Depression had a huge impact on

the industry in a negative way, it never ended it. The Big Three came up on top, and began to

thrive again.
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The American Automotive industry has had massive advancements since it started in the

1900s but it’s important to remember that it hasn't always been as big as it is now. The industry

has had to deal with many problems, but along with those problems came something that we

cannot live without. If no advancements were ever made to cars we would be stuck in the 1920s.

Henry Ford, William Durant, and Walter Chrysler did beautiful things to American society when

they kept making new automobiles.

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Works Cited

“Automobile History.” History.com, History.com editors, A&E Television Networks, 26 Apr.

2010, https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/automobiles.

“Henry Ford.” History.com, History.com editors, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009,

https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/henry-ford.

Kuziak, Shelley. “Model T House Cars.” History Magazine, vol. 22, no. 3, Fall 2020, History

Reference Center,

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/hrc/detail/detail?vid=8&sid=98b1fd1f-de28-45bb-9555-8bf5

48c18dba%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9aHJjLWxpdmU%3d#AN=145510196

&db=khh.

Marcin, Michael. “History of the Assembly Line.” Crest Capital,

https://www.crestcapital.com/tax/history_of_the_assembly_line#:~:text=The%20History

%20of%20the%20Assembly,together%20in%20a%20specific%20order.&text=The%20F

ord%20Motor%20Company%20adopted,in%20the%20United%20States%20economy.

“William Durant creates General Motors.” History.com, History.com editors, A&E Television

Networks, 13 Nov. 2013,

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/william-durant-creates-general-motors.