The Early Days
The car we know today and the mass production techniques all started at the beginning of the 20thcentury. Ransom E. Olds, David Buick, Henry Ford, John and Horace Dodge, Louis Chevrolet, William Durant (the founder of General Motors) and Walter P. Chrysler set the wheels in motion with their innovations. In the early days of mass production these men and their companies dominated the burgeoning automobile market. Like Olds and Buick, Ford knew that mass production was the key to his success. By 1908 Ford had surpassed Buick and Olds as the industry leader, a position that was strengthened with the launch of the first Model T automobiles.
Mass production ultimately led to mass retailing, causing a sales boom. The mass production process gave the fledgling retail sector a huge boost and helped the onward investment in new manufacturing plants. Automobile dealers helped finance this expansion by sending large deposits which funded the continued operation of the assembly lines. Financing was second only to the introduction of the assembly line in factors leading to a growth in popularity of the car. The result was a newly liberated mass population that wanted to purchase, service, and repair their new vehicles locally.
