The Evolution of the Auto Industry
Of course the idea of an automobile can be dated all the way back to when the wheel was first invented; however, I am going to place you back to when major progress was made to the auto industry. The first automobile was built in France by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot in 1769. Not long after came the first automobile patent in the United States which was granted to Oliver Evans in 1789. Evan produced his first self-propelled automobile in 1805. Although self-propelled, this vehicle wasn't anything like how our vehicles work today. Finally, in 1870 an inventor by the name of Seigfried Marcus put an internal liquid fuel engine in a horse carriage which made him the first man to propel a vehicle by means of gasoline. As were finding out today this may have been our biggest mistake as a civilization due to global warming concerns. However, when directly eyeing the auto industry, this was necessary to jump start the idea that has effects each and every one of us everyday.
Karl Benz built his first automobile in 1885, was granted a patent in 1886, and began producing automobiles in 1888. Notice the last names if you are not familiar with the history of the auto industry. In 1889 Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach designed a vehicle from scratch rather than using a horse carriage fitted with an engine. By the 1900s, mass production on vehicles was under way in France and the United States. The first company formed to exclusively build cars was Panhard et Levassor in France. Next came the United States auto industry startup called Duryea Motor Wagon Company founded by brothers Charles and Frank Duryea.
Oldsmobile had a production line up and running in 1902 and would dominate this era of automobile production. By 1903, Cadillac, Winston and Ford were all producing cars in the thousands. A few years later in 1908 the Ford Model T was introduced and became the most widely produced and available car of the era. In 1910 the Mercer Raceabout debuted as the world's first sports car. Slightly over a decade later the Austin debuted and was the most widely copied vehicle ever and served as a template for cars around the world. Later in 1934 the Citroen Traction Avant was the first mass produced vehicle with front wheel drive. Finally, Oldsmobile introduced the first automatic transmission in 1940 and no longer than 10 years all automobile manufactures were offering the same technology. 1950 and 60's was when the auto industry had the ability to really focus on the wants rather than the needs of consumers. The classics we love to see are in prototypes. 1962 hits and the first super car was introduced as the Ferrari 250 GTO. 1964 sets a mark and Ford releases the Mustang that became the best selling and most collected car of its era. In 1977 Honda introduced the Accord and it went on to become the most popular car of 1990s. A huge win for Chrysler, their 1983 release of the minivans were introduced and pushed station wagons out of the market. Many of these vehicles lasted decades and many can still be found today. More recently, Toyota has recently surpassed General Motors in leading worldwide auto sales and now holds the number one selling brand in the world.
As for the future of vehicles, manufactures are moving towards hybrid and hydrogen automobiles. Hybrid automobiles use a mix of technologies such as combustion engines, electric motors, gasoline, and batteries. Normally, the vehicles run on batteries that are found in a pack in the vehicle, and once the battery is dead the gasoline kicks in. Hydrogen automobiles generally use the hydrogen in one of two methods; combustion or fuel-cell conversion. Hydrogen can be obtained through various methods utilizing natural gas or coal. One can almost say history repeats itself, simply with a different goal. As noted at the beginning of this article, a gasoline powered engine was a major jump start to the auto industry. Now we have most everything else we can want and need, and the main focus is finding the best way to power the vehicle again that can both be environmentally safe and cost effective. This is because fossil fuels have been the number one proven cause of global warming, the supply is inevitably going to diminish, and the price is definitely not going down.
By Steven Cancel.
Visit the Blog about citroen car finance ukCitroen C-Crosser
I thought I was well abreast of the gap between reality and PR spin in the motoring industry. I am used to being told that unsporting cars are exceedingly sporty and that cars designed for SainsburyÕs are fun to drive and full of emotion.
To me and most who do this job, itÕs just another form of white noise that accompanies most product launches and can be mentally tuned out while you wait in the usually forlorn hope that theyÕll tell you something you havenÕt read in the press pack.
But with this, the C-Crosser, Citro‘n has taken the reality gap and stretched it so so wide that no suspension of disbelief, willing or otherwise, can bridge it. For this is a car which, we were told without the merest hint of irony, is Ņa pure Citro‘n productÓ with ŅCitro‘n DNAÓ running through it. It is nothing of the sort.
The C-Crosser is, in fact, not a Citro‘n in any conventional sense save the badge on its bonnet. This Ņpure Citro‘n productÓ is a Mitsubishi, designed, engineered and built in Japan.
And as for the DNA, not only does it contain none of the quirky design touches that have distinguished key Citro‘ns throughout the companyÕs history, it is an SUV, a genre noted for its absence from the Citro‘n lineup ever since it hit the market.
True, the new car does have a 2.2 litre diesel engine used in other Citro‘ns and Peugeots, while the Mitsubishi on which it is based, the Outlander, uses an inferior VW unit, and yes it has been given its own nose and detail changes to the rear styling so it doesnÕt look exactly like an Outlander. But none of this makes it a Citro‘n any more than dressing up like Elvis and slapping on some sideburns makes you the King.
The pity is this sort of nonsense threatens to cloud the fact that what Citro‘n has been able to lay its hands on is a pretty capable and impressive machine. At £22,790 for the VTR+ model and £25,490 for the Exclusive version I drove, itÕs not cheap, but IÕd place it a step ahead of most cars that could be called competitors.
Sensibly, it recognises that people are increasingly buying cars such as this not to go yomping through the jungle but as something that works like an MPV or an estate without the homespun image. And in these roles it does well.
The fact that its third row of seats is fiddly to raise and lower and will accommodate only children is dwarfed by the fact that these seats exist at all: you wonÕt find them in a Land Rover Freelander 2, Toyota RAV4 or BMW X3. It has a split tailgate to provide a weatherproof vantage point or simply somewhere for children to change muddy wellies or football boots. The middle row of seats doesnÕt merely fold, it slides and reclines too.
And itÕs fair that Citro‘n takes a share of the credit for the refined and punchy motor under the bonnet. The VW equivalent in the Outlander is not only 10% less powerful, it sounds like a hardware store being fed through a blender. In contrast the 156bhp Citro‘n engine is smooth and flexible while offering reasonable fuel consumption and emissions. Sadly no automatic is available and the standard (Mitsubishi) six-speed gearbox is a little rubbery and obstructive.
The C-Crosser rides and handles surprisingly well, too. Citro‘n claims to have had some influence over Mitsubishi in the choice of suspension settings for the car (though the architecture itself is all MitsubishiÕs). It has a strong appetite for the open road, steers notably well and can be switched between two and four-wheel drive on the move. And if all you want to do is cruise, its all-round independent suspension and muted noise levels make light and comfortable work of long journeys.
ItÕs not an off-roader in traditional terms, but with reasonable ground clearance and the ability to lock up its four-wheel-drive system, it should have no problem extricating itself from muddy fields at sports day, a point-to-point or a country wedding, which, frankly, is all almost anyone is going to ask of it.
Inside, however, it is less successful, particularly when you consider the steep pricing points Citro‘n has chosen for it. Almost all the interior plastics are hard, scratchy and have no place in a car costing so much Š you can spend less and have an Audi A6.
The instruments are unattractive, the steering wheel lacks reach adjustment (an extraordinary omission these days), which compromises your driving position, and the sat nav that is standard on the top of the range car provided such dreadful graphics and proved so useless at navigating me through the Pyrenees that I seriously question its value.
I also question the carÕs positioning in the market: Citro‘n has always been aware that value is an integral part of its brand, yet it is charging big money for this car while Mitsubishi will sell it Š albeit with a considerably less pleasing engine Š for less than £20,000.
Even so, the C-Crosser is good enough to deserve to succeed. Whether it does is another matter. People are used to Citro‘n hatchbacks and Citro‘n MPVs but the evidence is that when Citro‘n wanders into a market where its face is less familiar, life can be tough.
Even Xavier Duchemin, the managing director of Citro‘n UK, admitted that sales of its big C6 saloon were disappointing. Clearly his marketing men are going to have to work hard to acclimatise the car-buying public to the idea of a Citro‘n SUV.
Perhaps they should exploit the fact that Mitsubishi is, in contrast, one of the biggest and longest established names in the SUV world and rename the C-Crosser with a view to describing it a shade more honestly and accurately. IÕve come up with the Citro‘n-Mitsubishi Cross Dresser. If youÕve got a better idea, perhaps youÕd let us know.
By Andrew Frankel.
