Horseless carriage or veteran era automobile , in 1898 , the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer
Fiat in 1899 The American
George B. Selden filed for a patent on 8 May 1879. His application included the engine and its use in a four-wheeled car. Selden filed a series of amendments to his application, which stretched out the legal process, resulting in a delay of 16 years before the patent was granted on 5 November 1895. Selden licensed his patent to most major American automakers, collecting a fee on each car they produced and creating the
Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers. The Ford Motor Company fought this patent in court, and eventually won on appeal. Henry Ford testified that the patent did more to hinder than encourage development of autos in the United States. The first automobiles were produced by Carl Benz in 1888 in Germany and, under license from Benz, in France by Emile Roger. There were numerous others, including tricycle builders
Rudolf Egg,
Edward Butler, and
Léon Bollée. Across the northern US, local mechanics experimented with various prototypes. In Iowa, for example, by 1890, Jesse O. Wells drove a steam-powered Locomobile. There were numerous experiments in electric vehicles driven by storage batteries. The first users ordered the early gasoline-powered cars, including Haynes, Mason, and Duesenberg automobiles. Blacksmiths and mechanics started operating repair and gasoline stations. In Springfield, Massachusetts, brothers
Charles and
Frank Duryea founded the
Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1893, becoming the first American automobile manufacturing company.
The Autocar Company, founded in 1897, established many innovations still in use and remains the oldest operating motor vehicle manufacturer in the US. However, it was
Ransom E. Olds and his
Olds Motor Vehicle Company (later known as
Oldsmobile) who would dominate this era with the introduction of the
Oldsmobile Curved Dash. Its production line was running in 1901. The
Thomas B. Jeffery Company developed the world's second mass-produced automobile, and 1,500
Ramblers were built and sold in its first year, representing one-sixth of all existing motorcars in the US at the time. Within a year,
Cadillac (formed from the
Henry Ford Company),
Winton, and Ford were also producing cars in the thousands. In South Bend, Indiana, the
Studebaker brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of
horse-drawn vehicles, made a transition to electric automobiles in 1902, and gasoline engines in 1904. They continued to build horse-drawn vehicles until 1919. The first motor car in Central Europe was produced by the
Austro-Hungarian company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to
Tatra in today's Czech Republic) in 1897, the
Präsident automobile. In 1898,
Louis Renault had a
De Dion-Bouton modified, with fixed
drive shaft and
differential, making "perhaps the first
hot rod in history" and bringing Renault and his brothers into the car industry. Innovation was rapid and rampant, with no clear standards for basic vehicle architectures,
body styles, construction materials, or controls; for example, many veteran cars use a
tiller, rather than a wheel for steering. During 1903, Rambler standardized on the steering wheel and moved the driver's position to the left-hand side of the vehicle.
Chain drive was dominant over the drive shaft, and closed bodies were scarce.
Drum brakes were introduced by Renault in 1902. The next year, Dutch designer
Jacobus Spijker built the first
four-wheel drive racing car; it never competed. It would be 1965 and the
Jensen FF before four-wheel drive was used on a production car. Three years later, Jacob German would start a tradition for New York City
cabdrivers when he sped down
Lexington Avenue, at the "reckless" speed of . In 1909, Rambler became the first car company to equip its cars with a
spare tire that was mounted on a fifth wheel. Some examples of cars of the period included: • 1907 Takuri—the first entirely Japanese-made gasoline engine car produced by Komanosuke Uchiyama in April 1907. Also, in Japan, the Hatsudoki Seizo Co. Ltd. is formed, which was later renamed in 1951 as
Daihatsu Kōgyō Kabushiki-gaisha. • 1908–1927 Ford Model T—the era's most widely produced and available four-seater car. It used a
planetary transmission and had a pedal-based control system. Ford T was proclaimed the most influential car of the 20th century in the international
Car of the Century awards. • 1909 Hudson Model 20—named after its rated power output and sold on its first market for . • 1909 Morgan Runabout—a popular
cyclecar, cyclecars were sold in greater quantities than four-seater cars in this period. • 1910
Mercer Raceabout—regarded as one of the first sports cars, the Raceabout expressed the exuberance of the driving public, as did the similarly conceived
American Underslung and
Hispano-Suiza Alphonso. • 1910–1920
Bugatti Type 13—a notable racing and touring model with advanced engineering and design. Similar models were Types 15, 17, 22, and 23. • 1914–1917 Dattogo—a two-cylinder, "all-Japanese" car manufactured in seven units by the Kaishinsha Motor Works operated by Masujiro Hashimoto in Tokyo, while importing, assembling, and selling British cars. Kaishinsha was the first automobile manufacturing business in Japan. • 1917
Mitsubishi Model A—an all hand-built car built by Japanese company
Mitsubishi in limited numbers for Japanese executives.
Vintage era The vintage era lasted from the end of
World War I (1918) until the
Wall Street crash at the end of 1929. During this period, the front-engine car layout dominated, with closed bodies and standardized controls becoming the norm. In 1919, 90 percent of cars sold were open; by 1929, 90 percent were closed. Between 1922 and 1925, the number of US passenger car builders decreased from 175 to 70. H. A. Tarantous, managing editor of "MoToR Member Society of Automotive Engineers", in a
New York Times article from 1925, suggested many were unable to raise production and cope with falling prices (due to assembly line production), especially for low-priced cars. The new
pyroxylin-based paints, eight-cylinder engines, four-wheel brakes, and balloon tires were the biggest trends for 1925. Examples of period vehicles: • 1922–1939
Austin 7—a widely copied vehicle serving as a template for many cars such as
BMW and
Nissan. • 1922–1931
Lancia Lambda—an advanced car for the time, was the first to feature a load-bearing
monocoque and
independent front suspension. • 1924–1929
Bugatti Type 35—one of the most successful racing cars with over 1,000 victories in five years. • 1925–1928
Hanomag 2/10 PS—early example of
pontoon styling. • 1927–1931
Ford Model A (1927–1931)—after keeping the brass-era Model T in production for too long, Ford broke from the past by restarting its model series with the 1927 Model A. More than four million were produced, making it the bestselling model of the era. The Ford Model A was a prototype for beginning Soviet mass car production (GAZ A). • 1930
Cadillac V-16—developed at the height of the vintage era, the
V16-powered Cadillac would join
Bugatti's Royale as a legendary ultraluxury car of the era.
Pre-war era The pre-war part of the classic era began with the
Great Depression in 1930, and ended with the recovery after World War II, commonly placed during 1946. It was in this period that integrated fenders and fully closed bodies began to dominate sales, with the new
saloon/sedan body style even incorporating a trunk or boot at the rear for storage. The old open-top
runabouts,
phaetons, and
touring cars were largely phased out by the end of the classic era as wings, running boards, and headlights were gradually integrated with the body of the car. By the 1930s, many of the mechanical technologies used in today's automobiles had been invented, although some ideas were later "re-invented" and credited to others. For example,
front-wheel drive was re-introduced by André
Citroën with the launch of the
Traction Avant in 1934. However, cars with front-wheel drive were made several years earlier in road cars produced by
Alvis and
Cord as well as in racing cars by Miller (and may have appeared as early as 1897). In the same vein, the independent suspension was initially developed by
Amédée Bollée in 1873, but not put in production until the low-volume
Mercedes-Benz 380 in 1933, and later by other automakers using the design. The
unibody/
strut-suspended 1951
Ford Consul joined the 1948
Morris Minor and 1949
Rover P4 in the automobile market in the UK. In Italy,
Enzo Ferrari was beginning his
250 series, just as
Lancia introduced the revolutionary
V6-powered
Aurelia. Throughout the 1950s, engine power and vehicle speeds rose, designs became more integrated and artful, and automobiles were marketed internationally.
Alec Issigonis's
Mini and
Fiat's 500 diminutive cars were introduced in Europe, while the similar
kei car class became popular in Japan. The
Volkswagen Beetle continued production after
World War II and began exports to other nations, including the US. At the same time, Nash introduced the
Nash Rambler, the first successful modern
compact car made in the US, while the standard models produced by the "Big Three" domestic automakers grew larger, featuring increasing amounts of chrome trim, and luxury as exemplified by the
Cadillac Eldorado Brougham. The markets in Europe expanded with new small-sized automobiles, as well as expensive
grand tourers (GT), like the
Ferrari America. The market changed in the 1960s, as the US "Big Three" automakers began facing competition from imported cars, European makers adopted advanced technologies, and Japan emerged as a car-producing nation. Japanese companies began to export some of their more popular cars in Japan internationally, such as the
Toyota Corolla,
Toyota Corona,
Nissan Sunny, and
Nissan Bluebird in the mid-1960s. The success of
American Motors's compact-sized
Rambler models spurred GM and Ford to introduce their own downsized cars in 1960. Performance engines became a focus of marketing by US automakers, exemplified by the era's
muscle cars. In 1964, the
Ford Mustang developed a new market segment, the
pony car. New models to compete with the Mustang included the
Chevrolet Camaro,
AMC Javelin, and
Plymouth Barracuda.
Captive imports and
badge engineering increased in the US and the UK as
amalgamated groups such as the
British Motor Corporation consolidated the market. BMC's space-saving and trend-setting
transverse engine, front-wheel-drive,
independent suspension and monocoque bodied Mini, which first appeared in 1959, was marketed under the
Austin and
Morris names, until Mini became a
marque in its own right in 1969. Competition increased, with
Studebaker, a pioneering automaker, shutting down. The trend for consolidation reached Italy, where niche makers like
Maserati,
Ferrari, and
Lancia were acquired by larger companies. By the decade's end, the number of automobile marques had been greatly reduced. Technology developments included the widespread use of
independent suspensions, wider application of
fuel injection, and an increasing focus on safety in automotive design. Innovations during the 1960s included
NSU's
Wankel engine, the
gas turbine, and the
turbocharger. Of these, only the last endured, pioneered by General Motors, and adopted by
BMW and
Saab, later seeing mass-market use during the 1980s by
Chrysler.
Mazda continued developing its
Wankel engine despite problems in longevity, emissions, and fuel economy. Other Wankel licensees, including Mercedes-Benz and GM, never produced their designs because of engineering and manufacturing problems and the need for greater fuel economy after the 1973 oil crisis. The 1970s were turbulent years for automakers and buyers, with prominent events reshaping the industry, such as the
1973 oil crisis, stricter
automobile emissions control and safety requirements, increasing exports by the Japanese and European automakers, as well as growth in inflation and the stagnant economic conditions in many nations. Smaller-sized cars grew in popularity. During the
Malaise era, the US saw the establishment of the
subcompact segment with the introduction of the
AMC Gremlin, followed by the
Chevrolet Vega and
Ford Pinto. The
station wagon (estate, break, kombi, universal) body design was popular, as well as increasing sales of noncommercial
all-wheel drive off-road vehicles. Toward the end of the 20th century, the US
Big Three (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) partially lost their leading position. Japan became a leader in car production for a time, and cars began to be mass manufactured in new Asian, East European, and other countries. Examples of postwar cars: • 1946–1958
GAZ-M20 Pobeda—Soviet car with full pontoon design • 1947–1958
Standard Vanguard—British mass-market car with a complete pontoon design • 1948–1971
Morris Minor—an early postwar car exported around the world • 1953–1971
Chevrolet Bel Air and 1953–2002
Cadillac Eldorado Brougham—first generations were representative of
tailfin design • 1955–1976
Citroën DS—aerodynamic design and innovative technology, awarded third place as
Car of the 20th Century • 1959–2000
Mini—a radical and innovative small car that was manufactured for four decades; awarded second place as
Car of the 20th Century • 1960-1990
Volkswagen Brasília • 1961–1975
Jaguar E-Type—a classic sports car design • 1963–1989
Porsche 911—a sports car was awarded fifth place as
Car of the 20th Century • 1964–present
Ford Mustang—the
pony car that became one of the bestselling cars of the era • 1966–end of the 20th century
Fiat 124—an Italian car that was produced under license in many other countries including the
Soviet Union • 1966–1971
Subaru 1000—one of the first Japanese built sedans using a
boxer engine,
front wheel drive and introducing the "
double offset joint" driveshaft to the front wheels • 1967
NSU Ro 80—the basic wedge profile of this design was emulated in subsequent decades, unlike its Wankel engine • 1969
Nissan S30—Japanese sports car • 1966–1992
Oldsmobile Toronado—First modern-era American car with front-wheel drive as well as introduced electronic
antilock braking system and
airbag. • 1972–present
Mercedes-Benz S-Class—Popular luxury sedan that was the first car with features such as
seat belt pretensioners and an electronic stability control system • 1975–present
BMW 3 Series—the 3 Series has been on
Car and Driver magazine's annual Ten Best list 17 times • 1977–present
Honda Accord saloon/sedan—a Japanese sedan that became popular in the US • 1983–present
Chrysler minivans—the two-box
minivan design nearly pushed the
station wagon out of the market • 1984–present
Renault Espace—first mass one-volume car of noncommercial MPV class
Modern era is the world's
bestselling nameplate. electric car, the world's best-selling electric car, and the best selling nameplate in 2023. The modern era is normally defined as the 40 years preceding the current year. The modern era has been one of increasing
standardization,
platform sharing, and
computer-aided design—to reduce costs and development time—and of increasing use of electronics for both engine management and entertainment systems. Some developments which began to see mass adoption in the 1970s and 1980s and continued into the modern era are the proliferation of
front- and
all-wheel drive, the ubiquity of fuel injection, and the rise of
turbocharging. Adoption of diesel engines in passenger cars continued to rise in Europe until the mid 2010s, when both diesel and gasoline engines began to lose market share to electric cars. In other markets, such as The US and Japan, diesel passenger car adoption remained stagnant or fell in this same period. Most modern passenger cars are front-wheel-drive monocoque or unibody designs with transversely mounted engines. Body styles have changed as well in the modern era. The 1980s onwards saw the rise of the
hatchback,
sport utility vehicle,
crossover SUV,
minivan and
MPV into mainstream popularity. The introduction of the MPV class (smaller noncommercial passenger
minivans), started in the mid 1980s, among the first of which were the French
Renault Espace and the
Chrysler minivan versions in the US.
Pickup trucks have also grown in popularity, particularly in the US, and particularly as passenger cars rather than as strictly work vehicles as they were typically used in previous eras. The rising popularity of SUVs and crossovers worldwide, starting in the 1990s, has changed the face of motoring and has been blamed for the decline in sales of other body styles such as
sedans,
station wagons,
minivans and
MPVs. The modern era has also rapidly improved
fuel efficiency and engine output.
Emissions of modern cars have been reduced through the use of computerized
engine management systems, use of smaller engines with turbochargers, hybrid systems, more aerodynamic designs, and other technologies. The
2008 financial crisis cut almost a third of light vehicle sales from Chrysler, Toyota, Ford, and Nissan. It also subtracted about a fourth of Honda's sales and a seventh of sales from General Motors. Since 2009, China has become the world's largest car manufacturer, producing more than Japan, the US, and Europe. Besides the increasing car production in Asia and other countries, there has been growth in transnational corporate groups, with the production of transnational automobiles sharing the same platforms and badge engineering or rebadging to suit different markets and consumer segments. During the 2010s, electric cars began to become available for the average consumer, and became increasingly popular in the 2020s. Some countries such as Norway and Iceland quickly replaced gasoline cars with EVs, and the charging networks in much of Europe, North America, and China rapidly expanded. Examples of modern cars: • 1986–2019
Ford Taurus—a
midsized front-wheel drive sedan that dominated the US market in the late 1980s • 1997–present
Toyota Prius—launched in the Japanese market and became a popular
hybrid electric vehicle in many markets. • 1998–present
Ford Focus—a popular
hatchback and Ford's bestselling
world car • 2008–2012
Tesla Roadster—first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in
serial production for sale in the US in the modern era. It sold about 2,500 units worldwide. • 2008–2013
BYD F3DM—first highway-capable
series production plugin hybrid, launched in China in December 2008, sold over 2,300 units. • 2010–present,
Nissan Leaf and
Chevrolet Volt—all-electric car and plugin hybrid correspondingly, launched in December 2010, were the world's top-selling
mass production vehicles of their kind. , global Volt sales totaled over 100,000. Nissan Leaf global sales achieved the 300,000 unit milestone in January 2018, which made the Leaf the world's all-time bestselling highway-capable electric car in history at the time. • 2012–present,
Tesla Model S—Plugin electric vehicle that was ranked the world's bestselling plugin electric vehicle in 2015. It was also named car of the century by
Car and Driver. • 2020–present
Tesla Model Y—Plugin electric vehicle that was ranked the bestselling car worldwide in 2023, and, as of May 2025, is the best selling plugin electric vehicle of all time. ==See also==