Revolution in cars.

Vintage Era

The vintage era lasted from the end of World War I (1919), through the Wall Street Crash at the end of 1929. During this period, the front-engined car came to dominate, with closed bodies and standardised controls becoming the norm.

Bugatti Type 35C Grand Prix Racer 1926

Exemplary vintage vehicles:~

• 1922–1939 Austin 7 — the Austin Seven was one of the most widely copied vehicles ever, serving as a template for cars around the world, from BMW to Nissan.
• 1922–1931 Lancia Lambda — very advanced car for the time, first car to feature a load-bearing monocoque-type body and independent front suspension.
• 1924–1929 Bugatti Type 35 — the Type 35 was one of the most successful racing cars of all time, with over 1,000 victories in five years.
• 1925–1928 Hanomag 2 / 10 PS — early example of ponton styling.
• 1927–1931 Ford Model A (1927-1931) — after keeping the brass era Model T in production for too long, Ford broke from the past by restarting its model series with the 1927 Model A. More than 4 million were produced, making it the best-selling model of the era. The Ford Model A was a prototype for the beginning of Soviet mass car production (GAZ A).
• 1930 Cadillac V-16 — developed at the height of the vintage era, the V16-powered Cadillac would join Bugatti’s Royale as the most legendary ultra-luxury cars of the era.

Pre-WWII era

The pre-war part of the classic era began with the Great Depression in 1930, and ended with the recovery after World War II, commonly placed at 1946. It was in this period that integrated fenders and fully closed bodies began to dominate sales, with the new saloon/sedan body style even incorporating a trunk or boot at the rear for storage. The old open-top runabouts, phaetons, and touring cars were phased out by the end of the classic era as wings, running boards, and headlights were gradually integrated with the body of the car.

By the 1930s, most of the mechanical technology used in today’s automobiles had been invented, although some things were later “re-invented”, and credited to someone else.

1934–1956 Citroën Traction Avant — the first mass-produced front-wheel drive car, built with monocoque chassis.

Exemplary pre-war automobiles:~

• 1932–1939 Alvis Speed 20 and Speed 25 — the first cars with all-synchromesh gearbox.^[citation needed^]
• 1932–1948 Ford V-8 (Model B) — introduction of the powerful flathead V8 in mainstream vehicles, setting new performance and efficiency standards.
• 1934–1938 Tatra 77 — first serial-produced car with aerodynamical design.
• 1934–1940 Bugatti Type 57 — a singular refined automobile for the wealthy.
• 1934–1956 Citroën Traction Avant — the first mass-produced front-wheel drive car, built with monocoque chassis.
• 1936–1955 MG T series — sports cars with youth appeal at an affordable price.
• 1938–2003 Volkswagen Beetle — a design for efficiency and low price, which was produced for over 60 years with minimal basic change; it has the largest production in history with over 20 million units produced in several counties. The car was awarded the fourth place in the international Car of the 20th Century competition. A new car echoing the styling of the original has been produced in the 21st century.
• 1936–1939 Rolls-Royce Phantom III — V12 engined pinnacle of pre-war engineering, with technological advances not seen in most other manufacturers until the 1960s. Superior performance and quality.

Post-war era

Since World War II automobile design experienced the total revolution changes to ponton style (without a non-compact ledge elements), one of the first mass representatives of that were the Soviet GAZ-M20 Pobeda (1946), British Standard Vanguard (1947), US Studebaker Champion and Kaiser Special (1947), and small serial Czech luxury Tatra T600 Tatraplan (1946) and Italian Cisitalia 220 sportcar (1947).

Automobile design and production finally emerged from the military orientation and other shadow of war in 1949, the year that in the United States saw the introduction of high-compression V8 engines and modern bodies from General Motors’ Oldsmobile and Cadillac brands. The unibody/strut-suspended 1951 Ford Consul joined the 1948 Morris Minor and 1949 Rover P4 in waking up the automobile market in the United Kingdom. In Italy, Enzo Ferrari was beginning his 250 series, just as Lancia introduced the revolutionary V6-powered Aurelia.

1946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda one of the first mass-produced cars with ponton design

Notable exemplary post-war cars:~

• 1946–1958 GAZ-M20 Pobeda — Soviet mass car with full ponton design.
• 1947–1958 Standard Vanguard — British mass car with full ponton design some and
• 1948–1971 Morris Minor – a popular and typical early post-war car exported around the world
• 1953–1971 Chevrolet Bel Air and 1953–2002 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham – in its first generations were a bright representatives of golden epoch of American tailfin car design
• 1955–1976 Citroën DS — bright and non-often representative of unusual bogie (hydropneumatic) ? design (one of the most mind), due to what became a movie star; car was awarded third place in the international Car of the 20th Century competition.
• 1959–2000 Mini — this quintessential small car lasted for four decades, and is one of the most famous cars of all time; car was awarded the second place on international Car of the 20th Century competition; the car has a re-styled new version in the 21st century.
• 1961–1975 Jaguar E-type — the E-type saved Jaguar on the track and in the showroom.
• 1963–1989 Porsche 911 – wanted non-cheap but mass sport car, famoused^[clarification needed^] its company; car was awarded the fifth place on international Car of the 20th Century competition; the car has successors with a similar design.
• 1964–present Ford Mustang — the pony car that became one of the best-selling and most-collected cars of the era.
• 1966–end of the 20th century Fiat 124 — an Italian car that was licence produced in many other counties including the Soviet Union where as the VAZ-2101 it launched mass automobilisation.
• 1967 NSU Ro 80 — the basic wedge profile of this design was much emulated in subsequent decades.,[39] unlike that its other technical innovation – rotor engine.
• 1967–2002 Chevrolet Camaro – The pony car that General Motors introduced to compete with Ford’s mustang which featured the relatively new Coke bottle styling.
• 1969 Datsun 240Z — one of the first Japanese sports cars to be a smash hit with the North American public, it paved the way for future decades of Japanese strength in the automotive industry. It was affordable and well built, and had great success both on the track and in the showroom.

Modern era

The modern era is normally defined as the 25 years preceding the current year. However, there are some technical and design aspects that differentiate modern cars from antiques. Without considering the future of the car, the modern era has been one of increasing standardisation, platform sharing, and computer-aided design.

Some particular contemporary developments are the proliferation of front- and all-wheel drive, the adoption of the diesel engine, and the ubiquity of fuel injection. While all of these advances were first attempted in earlier eras, they so dominate the market today that it is easy to overlook their significance. Nearly all modern passenger cars are front-wheel-drive monocoque/unibody designs, with transversely mounted engines, but this design was considered radical as late as the 1960s.
Body styles have changed as well in the modern era. Three types, the hatchback, sedan, and sport utility vehicle, dominate today’s market, yet are relatively recent concepts. All originally emphasised practicality, but have mutated into today’s high-powered luxury crossover SUV, sports wagon, two-volume Large MPV. The rise of pickup trucks in the United States, and SUVs worldwide, has changed the face of motoring, with these “trucks” coming to command more than half of the world automobile market. There was also the appearance of new one-volume MPV class (smaller non-commercial passenger minivans), among the first of which were the French Renault Espace and US Pontiac Trans Sport.

The modern era has also seen rapidly rising fuel efficiency and engine output. Once the automobile emissions concerns of the 1970s were conquered with computerised engine management systems, power began to rise rapidly. In the 1980s, a powerful sports car might have produced 200 horsepower (150 kW) – 20 years later, average passenger cars had engines that powerful, and some performance models offer three times as much power.

The economic crisis of 2008 cut almost a third of light vehicle sales from Chrysler, Toyota, Ford, and Nissan. It also subtracted about a fourth of Honda’s sales and about a seventh of sales from General Motors.“Economic Crisis”. Retrieved 2013-06-03.

Since 2009, China has become the new world’s absolute car manufacturer leader with production more than US, Japan or all Europe. Besides large growth of car production in Asian and other countries, the junctions (and breaks) of producents into transnational corporate groups and the transnational “platforms” of a cars became as wide practice.

Since the end of the 20th century, several award competitions of cars and trucks have become widely known, such as European Car of the Year Car of the Year Japan, North American Car of the Year, World Car of the Year, Truck of the Year, and International Car of the Year, so that vehicles of different classes, producers, and countries win alternately. Also, Car of the Century awards were held, in which in the US the Ford Model T was named as most influential car of the 20th century.

Nissan Leaf re-charging in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Exemplary modern cars:

• 1966–present Toyota Corolla – a simple small Japanese saloon/sedan that has come to be the best-selling car of all time.
• 1970–present Range Rover – the first take on the combination of luxury and four-wheel drive utility, the original ‘SUV’. Such was the popularity of the original Range Rover Classic that a new model was not brought out until 1994.
• 1973–present Mercedes-Benz S-Class – electronic anti-lock braking system, supplemental restraint airbags, seat belt pretensioners, and electronic traction control systems all made their debut on the S-Class. These features would later become standard throughout the car industry.
• 1975–present BMW 3 Series – the 3 Series has been on Car and Driver magazine’s annual Ten Best list 17 times, making it the longest running entry in the list.
• 1977–present Honda Accord saloon/sedan — this Japanese sedan became the most popular car in the United States in the 1990s, pushing the Ford Taurus aside, and setting the stage for today’s upscale Asian sedans.
• 1981–1989 Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant — the “K-cars” that saved Chrysler as a major manufacturer. These models were some of the first successful American front-wheel drive, fuel-efficient compact cars.
• 1983–present Chrysler minivans – the two-box minivan design nearly pushed the station wagon out of the market, and presaged today’s crossover SUVs.
• 1984–present Renault Espace — first mass one-volume car of non-commercial MPV class.
• 1986–present Ford Taurus — this mid-sized front-wheel drive sedan with modern computer-assisted design dominated the American market in the late 1980s, and created a design revolution in North America.
• 1989–1999 ~Pontiac Trans Sport was one the first of the one-box cars.
• 1997–present Toyota Prius, launched in the Japanese market, in September 2010 reached worldwide cumulative sales of two million units, becoming the best known hybrid electric vehicle in the world.
• 1998–present Ford Focus — one of the most popular hatchbacks across the globe, also one of Ford’s best selling world cars.
• 2008–present Tata Nano — an inexpensive (100,000, ? $2200), rear-engined, four-passenger city car built by the Indian company Tata Motors and is aimed primarily at the Indian domestic market.
• 2008–present Tesla Roadster — the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production for sale in the United States in the modern era.
• 2010–present, Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt — an all-electric car and a plug-in hybrid correspondingly, were launched in the U.S. and Japanese markets in December 2010, becoming the first mass production vehicles of their kind.

Brief Summary

The evolution of cars or automobiles started as early as 1769, by invention of steam-powered cars capable for human transport. In early 1800s – 1806 to be exact, the first cars powered by internal combustion engines running on fuel gas appeared, which in turn directed to the introduction in 1885 of the ubiquitous modern gasoline – or petrol-fueled internal combustion engine.

Cars powered by electricity briefly appeared at the turn of the 20th century but largely disappeared from commonality until the turn of the 21st century, when interest in low- and zero-emissions transportation was reignited. As such, the early history of the automobile can be divided into a number of eras based on the prevalent method of automotive propulsion during that time. Later periods were defined by trends in exterior styling and size and utility preferences.

It can be said that the future of automobiles will focus on those with low and zero emission, which is a return to the beginnings of transportation (e.g. horse powered chariots), only this time with much (many) more horse power.

Era			Year	Example of Brands and Models initiated
Classic / Antique	1890s	Veteran	1889	Panhard et Levassor (France)
			1891	Peugeot (France)
			1893	Duryea Motor Wagon Co. (USA)
			1898	Pioneer (Australia)
			1899	FIAT (Italy)
	1900s		1900	Vincke, Germain, Linon and Nagant (Belgium); Fritz Henriod, Rudolf Egg, Saurer, Johann Weber, and Lorenz Popp (Swiss); Vagnfabrik AB, Hammel (Sweden)
			1902	Olds Motor Vehicle Company / Oldsmobile (USA)
			1903	Cadillac, Winton, and Ford (USA)
		Brass or Edwardian
			1908	Ford Model T
			1910	Mercer Raceabout,
	1910s		1910	Bugatti Type 13
		Vintage
	1920s		1922	Austin 7, Lancia Lambda
			1924	Bugatti Type 35
			1925	Hanomag 2 / 10 PS
			1927	Ford Model A
			1930	Cadillac V-16
	1930s	Pre – World War II	1932	Alvis Speed 20 and Speed 25, Ford V-8
			1934	Bugatti Type 57, Citroën Traction Avant
			1936	MG T Series, Rolls-Royce Phantom III
	1940s		1938	Volkswagen Beetle
	1950s	Post – World War II	1948	Morris Minor
			1959	MINI
	1960s		1961	Jaguar E-Type
			1964	Ford Mustang
			1969	Datsun 240Z
	1970s
		Modern	1966	Toyota Corolla
			1967	NSU Ro 80
			1973	Mercedes-Benz S-Class
			1975	BMW 3 Series
			1977	Honda Accord
	1980s		1981	Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant
			1983	Chrysler minivans
			1986	Ford Taurus
	1990s
	2000s
	2010s –	Future

Present and Future Trends

Potential future car technologies include varied energy sources and materials, which are being developed in order to make automobiles more energy efficient with reduced regulated emissions. Cars are being developed in many different ways. With rising gas prices, the future of the automobile is now leading towards fuel efficiency, energy-savers, hybrid vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and fuel-cell vehicles. GPS navigation, voice command and autopilot system are no longer sci-fi ideas but reality.