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History of Cars
The invention of wheel has brought about epochal changes in way human civilization has evolved. From bullock carts to modern vehicles, we have seen a paradigm shift in transportation modules and cars are unarguably the most evolved form of these. When you need to rock the road, you just turn on the keys of your machine.
But have you ever tried to sneak a peak into the history of your car? Or, for example, at what stages it has actually gone through to attain the current form? Or, have you checked to see what is the actual development story of your car? Well, just give a bit of rest to your staggering neurons, as herein you’ll find a brief account of the history of cars.
The First Car!
Many scholars have discrete opinions about the first ever automobile that appeared in the history and hence no exact inventor of the machine can be convincingly pointed out. Various automobile engineers from Nicolas Cugnet and Richard Trevithik to Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, have been credited with the invention of the car. But, the invention of modern cars is originally accredited to Karl Benz. This legendary inventor built the first ever four-stroke gasoline based automobile, “Motorwagon”, in Manheim in 1885 and achieved patent over the technology under his company, Benz and Cie. The commercial production of the vehicle was started in 1888. Moving further with the advancement in vehicle technology, Benz designed the first internal combustion engine, named ‘boxermotor’ in Germany.
Several other entrepreneurs have hopped into the industry to make most out of the newly appeared automotive segment. Daimler and Maybach together founded the brand ‘Daimler’ in 1890. The most notable change in the car segment was marked in the year 1926, when ‘Benz and Cie’ and DMG merged to form Daimler-Benz company with Mercedes Benz as its most prominent brand. Meanwhile, a number of other brands were also emerging across the major parts of the world, especially Western Europe, Peugeot in France and DMC in Britain were among the few notable ones.
Improvements in Automobile Designs
The first automobiles consisted of the body of the horse-drawn vehicle with four rubber tires fitted beneath it. That apart it also lacked nearly any safety gears that are routinely available in modern vehicles. With the advent of new materials and technology, the automobile body underwent significant modifications in its structure and performance. The wooden exterior of the automobile was replaced with the metallic body and the interiors got more and more luxurious with the passage of time. Similarly significant changes were seen in engine design, architecture and technology. However the basic usage of an internal combustion remains prevalent in most cars even after the passage of a century. Modern cars have achieved high levels of perfection in performance as well as fuel efficiency. Along with high speeds and striking designs, automobiles today can also boast of effective safety measures. Last but not the least one must note that a lot of the development that we find in cars today are a result of incremental developments that took place during the long and illustrious history of cars.
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Peugeot – From Coffee to Cars
The Peugeot Family has been in business in some form or another since the seventeen hundreds. From the production of coffee to bicycles in the early part of the twentieth century, automobiles would be the next big thing to come along.
The company produced its first automobile in 1889. The car was steam powered and had three wheels. However, steam proved to be unwieldy and cumbersome for use in any personal passenger vehicles. After meeting with Gottlieb Daimler, Armand Peugeot decided that the gasoline internal combustion engine was much more suited to what he had in mind. Peugeot acquired a license from Daimler to use their engines in Peugeot vehicles. Cars produced by the French company would remain powered by Daimler engines until the first Peugeot engines were developed in 1896.
Just as it had always been, Peugeot continued to produce a variety of products up through the turn of the twentieth century when Armand Peugeot formed his own company to focus exclusively on automobile manufacturing.
Peugeot would become an early influence on car racing in Europe and would remain a power in this arena for years to come. Around the time of World War 1, Armand decided to try his handed at motorcycles. His family had longed produced some of the finest bicycles in Europe. Armand was just as successful at motorcycles as his family had been with bicycles and the Peugeot Auto Company has produced motorcycles every since.
Once Europe became embroiled in World War I, Peugeot, just as most other manufacturers of the time, turned their attention to the war efforts. They eventually became a major manufacturer of arms and military vehicles throughout the remainder of the war. Once the allies were victorious, the focus once again turned to car production.
The French car company entered the United States market in 1958 with the Peugeot 404. Peugeot was never able to find its niche in American society and for the most part consumers simply ignored the brand. After several attempts to pique the curiosity of the American car buyer, Peugeot decided to cut its losses and withdrew from the American market. This did not exclude the company from going after American car manufacturers in Europe, however. In 1978, the company took over Chrysler Europe. Chrysler Corporation was suffering from heavy financial losses both at home and abroad and accepted the offer to take the ailing division off its hands almost immediately. Earlier in 1974, Peugeot had also acquired Citroen and for a brief period had interest in Maserati as well. The acquisition of so much debt so quickly proved nearly to be the undoing of Peugeot in the early eighties. The introduction of the popular Peugeot 205 was credited with the company’s recovery from the brink of financial ruin. While the 205 was able to save the company from complete collapse, Peugeot was still experiencing some financial stress.
For the future, Peugeot has announced a goal of selling 4 million units annually. In order to accomplish this, the French car manufacturer has plans of pursuing some of the more exotic markets in the world such as China, Russia and South America. Due to the weakening of the U.S. Dollar, there has been some talk of a return to the American market. At this point, that may well be speculation only.
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