Impact of the Automobile Industry On Indian Consumers
From early 1769, the history of automobiles began with the development of steam-powered automobiles, which are capable of human transport. Further, in the year 1806, the first car was developed, which was powered by internal combustion engines being run on fuel and gas. Soon after this, many other inventions were done by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, and Wilhelm Maybach, which have drifted the automobile industry into the new world (Fuxman, 1999). There are many nations that are manufacturing and dealing in automobiles; however, the three countries that are highest in automobile manufacturing are the USA and Canada, Japan, and Germany. The largest automakers in the USA are General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. These three are being regarded as the Detroit three. These big three companies are being distinguished by their size, geography, as well as business model. Most of their operations are unionised, i.e., United Auto Workers and Canadian Auto Workers, which results in a higher amount of labour costs as compared to other multinational automakers. General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford were the largest in the world just for a while; however, due to competition in the market, they have lost their position (Anderson and Anderson, 2010). Two of them are still the mainstays of the top five. Japan is considered the leader at producing small and more efficient cars. The automakers of Japan are Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, and they are regarded as the best among all other brands. Because of the oil crisis in the year 1973, the vehicles of these companies were brought to the forefront. This can be well attributed to the instance that the Honda Civic was being regarded as far better, or in other words, superior, than the American competitors such as the Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega. On the other hand, the automobile industry of Germany is one of the largest in providing employment opportunities to the local people. Further, the nation has the largest share, say around 29% of passenger car production in Europe (Kumar and Yamaoka, 2007).