What Are The Effects Of Foreign Influence On The US Automotive Industry

Since the invention of the first car, foreign countries have been competing with the United States in the automobile industry, pushing the U.S. to step up its game coming up with new ideas and innovations such as new vehicles and particular features. The United States automotive industry would not be nearly as advanced as it is today if it were not for the ideas and technologies of its foreign counterparts. Major automotive manufacturers have been both helped and set back financially due to the innovations of foreign manufacturers. American automotive designers and engineers have benefitted from foreign ideas and innovations more than not. Even global competition for sales in the industry has exponentially increased profit. More than anything, consumers are receiving all of the

In 1885, a german inventor named Karl Benz created the first actual car. This breakthrough led to lots of improvements and ideas from other inventors. Twenty eight years later in America, Henry Ford invents his assembly line starting the revolution of mass produced vehicles. Later, in 1949, the Volkswagen Beetle became the first car to be imported to the U.S. This gave Japan and other countries the idea to import cars to the United States which started the whole competition between the American and foreign automakers. After the 1970s, America’s feud with foreign car industries began to intensify. In the years 1990 and 1991 the U.S. faced massive profit decreases due to price drops on Japanese cars. More people were buying Japanese cars because of their low price and better fuel efficiency which, between 1990 and 1994, forced the United States to lower gas prices as much as $0.30 per gallon. Though, despite minor setbacks, the Japanese inventions and innovations were beneficial to the American industries by giving them products to improve and build off