Automobile History

The history of the automobile reflects the birth and evolution of the automobile, major technological invention that has greatly changed the societies of many countries during the twentieth century. It originates in the nineteenth century when the technique is heavily steam as an energy carrier and then move to the massive oil and the internal combustion engine.

The car has been gradually imposed in developed countries as the main mode of transport for the movement of people and goods. Its industry has been one of the most important and influential since the end of World War II and its global expansion has been dramatic. 250 000 cars were counted in 1907, 500,000 in 1914 with the advent of the Model T and 50 million before World War II. Triple the fleet during the war boom and reached 300 million units in 1975. In 2011, the annual global production of automobiles has reached 76 million units

The automobile revolutionized transportation and led to profound social changes, especially in the ratio of people to space. She has promoted the development of economic and cultural exchanges and led to massive development of new infrastructure. An entire cultural universe is built from its distribution as an object of public consumption and it is today - like other inventions of the twentieth century as the radio, television or refrigerator - a device widely considered essential in homes in developed countries. Both means of social distinction and instrument of leisure, automotive occupies a prominent place in the contemporary lifestyle.

Its effects on social life were soon appeared, and today more than ever, controversial issues. Seen at the beginning of its widespread distribution in the 1920 as an improvement in terms of mobility and comfort, the car has been the subject of significant criticism both in its environmental and social. Its use has come to compete with communal transport such as trams in the city or train for long distance journeys. At the turn of the twentieth century and the twenty-first century, the automobile, which has been faced with different oil shocks, now faces the inevitable oil depletion, global warming and emissions restrictions imposed on industry as a whole.