Automobiles are wheeled vehicles that are designed primarily for passenger transportation and powered by an internal combustion engine using a volatile fuel. They are complex technical systems with a multitude of subsystems designed to perform specific functions. The design and development of automobiles is a continuing process influenced by advances in technology, changing social needs, and consumer demands.
The early history of the automobile is the story of a race to reconcile state-of-the-art design with moderate price. The Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal called the four-cylinder, fifteen-horsepower, $600 Ford Model N of 1906-1907 “the very first instance of a low-cost motorcar driven by a gas engine having cylinders sufficient to give the shaft a turning impulse in each shaft turn.” Its success opened the market for other car manufacturers.
Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach built their first automobile in 1890, retrofitting a horse-drawn stagecoach with an internal-combustion gasoline engine of their own design. Benz, who had developed his engine in the late 1860s, seems to have been unaware of the work done by Daimler and Maybach.
After 1900, American companies rapidly dominated the industry. Henry Ford innovated mass production techniques, which allowed him to sell cars at lower prices and make them more accessible to middle-class Americans.
In addition, the United States had a much greater need for automotive transportation than European countries. Wide open land and a large hinterland with scattered settlements prompted people to demand automobiles that could traverse great distances and allow them freedom from dependence on others for transportation.