Immediate post-war

Regrowth

After the war, only a privileged few can afford a car. And given that European manufacturers are undergoing reconstruction, the U.S. industry is leading the automotive sales Europe. Liberation is a happy time for Europe, which fades quickly giving way to disillusionment. The consequences of war are important. The shortage of coal, keeping the ticket rationing are the signs of the difficulties that Europe is to recover. The country needs to build interest before the automobile. Although the emergence of new models that will become legendary, such as the Renault 4CV Motor Show of 1946 the best omen, inflation and stagnant wages are falling purchasing power of ménages.

The years 1946-1947 have signed the "return to normal" industries européennes. There is an exponential growth of global automotive production. She triple during the Thirty Glorious (approximately 1945 to 1975) to go from 10 million to 30 million voitures. Industrial concentration, technical progress and productivity growth in Europe facilitated the emergence of small economical cars.

Such growth is also explained by the appearance of a true consumer society, which hitherto favored the satisfaction of basic needs. The automotive industry is probably the industrial sector that benefits the most from this situation. To meet this growing demand, manufacturers must produce massivement.

In 1946, 10,000 first Volkswagen Beetle are built in Germany. In France, it is the Renault 4CV, launched in 1946, reached 500 000 copies in 1954. In Italy, small Fiat launched before the war, experiencing unprecedented success. A little later, it was England who began manufacturing small cars with the famous Mini. These figures also reflect a new dimension to the car. It was also in this period of post-war automobile ceases to be the sole property of bourgeois and middle to gradually enter into the society as a whole française.