| Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been | | | | had 41% of total British car production. Most British |
| mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing | | | | small-car assemblers,free articles directoryfrom Abbey |
| plans often have heavily influenced automobile design. | | | | to Xtra had gone under. Citroen did the same in |
| It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of | | | | France, coming to cars in 1919; between them and |
| different makes of cars produced by one company, | | | | other cheap cars in reply such as Renault's 10CV and |
| so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. | | | | Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550,000 cars in 1925, |
| Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared | | | | and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete.[13] |
| parts with one another so larger production volume | | | | Germany's first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS |
| resulted in lower costs for each price range. For | | | | Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off the line at |
| example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac,free | | | | Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car |
| articles directoryused cheaper mechanical parts made | | | | builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market.[13] See |
| by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, | | | | also: Automotive industry |
| doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, | | | | Fuel and propulsion technologies |
| corporate drivetrains and shared platforms (with | | | | A radio taxi in New Delhi. A court order requires all |
| interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) | | | | commercial vehicles including trucks, buses and taxis in |
| were common. Even so, only major makers could | | | | India to run on Compressed Natural Gas See also: |
| afford high costs, and even companies with decades | | | | Alternative fuel vehicle |
| of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, | | | | Most automobiles in use today are propelled by |
| or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred | | | | gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel internal |
| American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 | | | | combustion engines, which are known to cause air |
| survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by | | | | pollution and are also blamed for contributing to climate |
| 1940, only 17 of those were left.[13]free articles | | | | change and global warming.[14] Increasing costs of |
| directory | | | | oil-based fuels, tightening environmental laws and |
| In Europe much the same would happen. Morris set up | | | | restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling |
| its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon outsold | | | | work on alternative power systems for automobiles. |
| Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practise of | | | | Efforts to improve or replace existing technologies |
| vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley | | | | include the development of hybrid vehicles, and electric |
| (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance, as | | | | and hydrogen vehicles which do not release pollution |
| well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris | | | | into the air. |