Automobiles (a car, auto, or motorcar) are four-wheeled transportation vehicles that embody both the promise and pitfalls of the modern world. The automobile is the largest consumer of steel, one of the chief customers of the petroleum industry and a major user of other industrial products. It has stimulated participation in outdoor recreational activities and created industries such as service stations and motels. It has helped end rural isolation and brought urban amenities such as schools, hospitals and jobs to remote areas. It has accelerated the pace of change in twentieth-century American society, and it has become a key element in international trade.
Anyone who has owned an automobile knows that it has made their life much easier, allowing them to cover a wide area of the country more quickly and easily than can be done on foot or by train. It also means that they can spend more of their time doing other things, such as visiting friends and family or taking part in leisure activities.
The automobile was originally perfected in Germany and France toward the end of the nineteenth century. But by the 1920s American manufacturers had dominated the market, and Henry Ford introduced methods of mass production that reduced the price to such an extent that most middle-class families could afford them. However, the high unit profits of these gas-guzzling road cruisers were offset by environmental costs in the form of increased air pollution and a drain on dwindling world oil supplies.
