How automobile is made - production process, manufacture, making, used, parts, components, product Automobile Background In 1908 Henry Ford began production of the Model T automobile. Based on his original Model A design first manufactured in 1903, the Model T took five years to develop. Its creation inaugurated what we know today as the mass production assembly line. This revolutionary idea was based on the concept of simply assembling interchangeable component parts. Prior to this time, coaches and buggies had been hand-built in small numbers by specialized craftspeople who rarely duplicated any particular unit. Ford's innovative design reduced the number of parts needed as well as the number of skilled fitters who had always formed the bulk of the assembly operation, giving Ford a tremendous advantage over his competition. Ford's first venture into automobile assembly with the Model A involved setting up assembly stands on which the whole vehicle was built, usually by a single assembler who fit an entire section of the car together in one place. This person performed the same activity over and over at his stationary assembly stand. To provide for more efficiency, Ford had parts delivered as needed to each work station. In this way each assembly fitter took about 8.5 hours to complete his assembly task.

By the time the Model T was being developed Ford had decided to use multiple assembly stands with assemblers moving from stand to stand, each performing a specific function. This process reduced the assembly time for each fitter from 8.5 hours to a mere 2.5 minutes by rendering each worker completely familiar with a specific task. Ford soon recognized that walking from stand to stand wasted time and created jam-ups in the production process as faster workers overtook slower ones. In Detroit in 1913, he solved this problem by introducing the first moving assembly line, a conveyor that moved the vehicle past a stationary assembler. By eliminating the need for workers to move between stations, Ford cut the assembly task for each worker from 2.5 minutes to just under 2 minutes; the moving assembly conveyor could now pace the stationary worker. The first conveyor line consisted of metal strips to which the vehicle's wheels were attached. The metal strips were attached to a belt that rolled the length of the factory and then, beneath the floor, returned to the beginning area. This reduction in the amount of human effort required to assemble an automobile caught the attention of automobile assemblers throughout the world.

Ford's mass production drove the automobile industry for nearly five decades and was eventually adopted by almost every other industrial manufacturer. Although technological advancements have enabled many improvements to modern day automobile assembly operations, the basic concept of stationary workers installing parts on a vehicle as it passes their work stations has not changed drastically over the years. Raw Materials Although the bulk of an automobile is virgin steel, petroleum-based products (plastics and vinyls) have come to represent an increasingly large percentage of automotive components. The light-weight materials derived from petroleum have helped to lighten some models by as much as thirty percent. As the price of fossil fuels continues to rise, the preference for lighter, more fuel efficient vehicles will become more pronounced. Design Introducing a new model of automobile generally takes three to five years from inception to assembly. Ideas for new models are developed to respond to unmet pubic needs and preferences. Trying to predict what the public will want to drive in five years is no small feat, yet automobile companies have successfully designed automobiles that fit public tastes. With the help of computer-aided design equipment, designers develop basic concept drawings that help them visualize the proposed vehicle's appearance.

Based on this simulation, they then construct clay models that can be studied by styling experts familiar with what the public is likely to accept. Aerodynamic engineers also review the models, studying air-flow parameters and doing feasibility studies on crash tests. Only after all models have been reviewed and accepted are tool designers permitted to begin building the tools that will manufacture the component parts of the new model. The Manufacturing Process Components 1 The automobile assembly plant represents only the final phase in the process of manufacturing an automobile, for it is here that the components supplied by more than 4,000 outside suppliers, including company-owned parts suppliers, are brought together for assembly, usually by truck or railroad. Those parts that will be used in the chassis are delivered to one area, while those that will comprise the body are unloaded at another. Chassis 2 The typical car or truck is constructed from the ground up (and out). The frame forms the base on which the body rests and from which all subsequent assembly components follow. The frame is placed on the assembly line and clamped to the conveyer to prevent shifting as it moves down the line.

From here the automobile frame moves to component assembly areas where complete front and rear suspensions, gas tanks, rear axles and drive shafts, gear boxes, steering box components, wheel drums, and braking systems are sequentially installed. Workers install engines on Model Ts at a Ford Motor Company plant. The photo is from about 1917. The automobile, for decades the quintessential American industrial product, did not have its origins in the United States. In 1860, Etienne Lenoir, a Belgian mechanic, introduced an internal combustion engine that proved useful as a source of stationary power. In 1878, Nicholas Otto, a German manufacturer, developed his four-stroke "explosion" engine. By 1885, one of his engineers, Gottlieb Daimler, was building the first of four experimental vehicles powered by a modified Otto internal combustion engine. Also in 1885, another German manufacturer, Carl Benz, introduced a three-wheeled, self-propelled vehicle. In 1887, the Benz became the first automobile offered for sale to the public. By 1895, automotive technology was dominated by the French, led by Emile Lavassor.

Lavassor developed the basic mechanical arrangement of the car, placing the engine in the front of the chassis, with the crankshaft perpendicular to the axles. In 1896, the Duryea Motor Wagon became the first production motor vehicle in the United States. In that same year, Henry Ford demonstrated his first experimental vehicle, the Quadricycle. By 1908, when the Ford Motor Company introduced the Model T, the United States had dozens of automobile manufacturers. The Model T quickly became the standard by which other cars were measured; ten years later, half of all cars on the road were Model Ts. It had a simple four-cylinder, twenty-horsepower engine and a planetary transmission giving two gears forward and one backward. It was sturdy, had high road clearance to negotiate the rutted roads of the day, and was easy to operate and maintain. William S. Pretzer 3 An off-line operation at this stage of production mates the vehicle's engine with its transmission. Workers use robotic arms to install these heavy components inside the engine compartment of the frame. After the engine and transmission are installed, a On automobile assembly lines, much of the work is now done by robots rather than humans.

In the first stages of automobile manufacture, robots weld the floor pan pieces together and assist workers in placing components such as the suspension onto the chassis. worker attaches the radiator, and another bolts it into place. Because of the nature of these heavy component parts, articulating robots perform all of the lift and carry operations while assemblers using pneumatic wrenches bolt component pieces in place. Careful ergonomic studies of every assembly task have provided assembly workers with the safest and most efficient tools available. Body 4 Generally, the floor pan is the largest body component to which a multitude of panels and braces will subsequently be either welded or bolted. As it moves down the assembly line, held in place by clamping fixtures, the shell of the vehicle is built. First, the left and right quarter panels are robotically disengaged from pre-staged shipping containers and placed onto the floor pan, where they are stabilized with positioning fixtures and welded. 5 The front and rear door pillars, roof, and body side panels are assembled in the same fashion.

The shell of the automobile assembled in this section of the process lends itself to the use of robots because articulating arms can easily introduce various component braces and panels to the floor pan and perform a high number of weld operations in a time frame and with a degree of accuracy no human workers could ever approach. Robots can pick and load 200-pound (90.8 kilograms) roof panels and place them precisely in the proper weld position with tolerance variations held to within .001 of an inch. Moreover, robots can also tolerate the The body is built up on a separate assembly line from the chassis. Robots once again perform most of the welding on the various panels, but human workers are necessary to bolt the parts together. During welding, component pieces are held securely in a jig while welding operations are performed. Once the body shell is complete, it is attached to an overhead conveyor for the painting process. The multi-step painting process entails inspection, cleaning, undercoat (electrostatically applied) dipping, drying, topcoat spraying, and baking. smoke, weld flashes, and gases created during this phase of production.

6 As the body moves from the isolated weld area of the assembly line, subsequent body components including fully assembled doors, deck lids, hood panel, fenders, trunk lid, and bumper reinforcements are installed. Although robots help workers place these components onto the body shell, the workers provide the proper fit for most of the bolt-on functional parts using pneumatically assisted tools. Paint 7 Prior to painting, the body must pass through a rigorous inspection process, the body in white operation. The shell of the vehicle passes through a brightly lit white room where it is fully wiped down by visual inspectors using cloths soaked in hi-light oil. Under the lights, this oil allows inspectors to see any defects in the sheet metal body panels. Dings, dents, and any other defects are repaired right on the line by skilled body repairmen. After the shell has been fully inspected and repaired, the assembly conveyor carries it through a cleaning station where it is immersed and cleaned of all residual oil, dirt, and contaminants.

8 As the shell exits the cleaning station it goes through a drying booth and then through an undercoat dip—an electrostatically charged bath of undercoat paint (called the E-coat) that covers every nook and cranny of the body shell, both inside and out, with primer. This coat acts as a substrate surface to which the top coat of colored paint adheres. 9 After the E-coat bath, the shell is again dried in a booth as it proceeds on to the final paint operation. In most automobile assembly plants today, vehicle bodies are spray-painted by robots that have been programmed to apply the exact amounts of paint to just the right areas for just the right length of time. Considerable research and programming has gone into the dynamics of robotic painting in order to ensure the fine "wet" finishes we have come to expect. Our robotic painters have come a long way since Ford's first Model Ts, which were painted by hand with a brush. 10 Once the shell has been fully covered 1 V with a base coat of color paint and a clear top coat, the conveyor transfers the bodies through baking ovens where the paint is cured at temperatures exceeding 275 degrees Fahrenheit (135 degrees Celsius).

The body and chassis assemblies are mated near the end of the production process. Robotic arms lift the body shell onto the chassis frame, where human workers then bolt the two together. After final components are installed, the vehicle is driven off the assembly line to a quality checkpoint. After the shell leaves the paint area it is ready for interior assembly. Interior assembly 11 The painted shell proceeds through the interior assembly area where workers assemble all of the instrumentation and wiring systems, dash panels, interior lights, seats, door and trim panels, headliners, radios, speakers, all glass except the automobile windshield, steering column and wheel, body weatherstrips, vinyl tops, brake and gas pedals, carpeting, and front and rear bumper fascias. 12 Next, robots equipped with suction cups remove the windshield from a shipping container, apply a bead of urethane sealer to the perimeter of the glass, and then place it into the body windshield frame. Robots also pick seats and trim panels and transport them to the vehicle for the ease and efficiency of the assembly operator. After passing through this section the shell is given a water test to ensure the proper fit of door panels, glass, and weatherstripping. It is now ready to mate with the chassis.

Mate 13 The chassis assembly conveyor and the body shell conveyor meet at this stage of production. As the chassis passes the body conveyor the shell is robotically lifted from its conveyor fixtures and placed onto the car frame. Assembly workers, some at ground level and some in work pits beneath the conveyor, bolt the car body to the frame. Once the mating takes place the automobile proceeds down the line to receive final trim components, battery, tires, anti-freeze, and gasoline. 14 The vehicle can now be started. From here it is driven to a checkpoint off the line, where its engine is audited, its lights and horn checked, its tires balanced, and its charging system examined. Any defects discovered at this stage require that the car be taken to a central repair area, usually located near the end of the line. A crew of skilled trouble-shooters at this stage analyze and repair all problems. When the vehicle passes final audit it is given a price label and driven to a staging lot where it will await shipment to its destination. Quality Control All of the components that go into the automobile are produced at other sites.

This means the thousands of component pieces that comprise the car must be manufactured, tested, packaged, and shipped to the assembly plants, often on the same day they will be used. This requires no small amount of planning. To accomplish it, most automobile manufacturers require outside parts vendors to subject their component parts to rigorous testing and inspection audits similar to those used by the assembly plants. In this way the assembly plants can anticipate that the products arriving at their receiving docks are Statistical Process Control (SPC) approved and free from defects. Once the component parts of the automobile begin to be assembled at the automotive factory, production control specialists can follow the progress of each embryonic automobile by means of its Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), assigned at the start of the production line. In many of the more advanced assembly plants a small radio frequency transponder is attached to the chassis and floor pan. This sending unit carries the VIN information and monitors its progress along the assembly process. Knowing what operations the vehicle has been through, where it is going, and when it should arrive at the next assembly station gives production management personnel the ability to electronically control the manufacturing sequence. Throughout the assembly process quality audit stations keep track of vital information concerning the integrity of various functional components of the vehicle.

This idea comes from a change in quality control ideology over the years. Formerly, quality control was seen as a final inspection process that sought to discover defects only after the vehicle was built. In contrast, today quality is seen as a process built right into the design of the vehicle as well as the assembly process. In this way assembly operators can stop the conveyor if workers find a defect. Corrections can then be made, or supplies checked to determine whether an entire batch of components is bad. Vehicle recalls are costly and manufacturers do everything possible to ensure the integrity of their product before it is shipped to the customer. After the vehicle is assembled a validation process is conducted at the end of the assembly line to verify quality audits from the various inspection points throughout the assembly process. This final audit tests for properly fitting panels; dynamics; squeaks and rattles; functioning electrical components; and engine, chassis, and wheel alignment. In many assembly plants vehicles are periodically pulled from the audit line and given full functional tests. All efforts today are put forth to ensure that quality and reliability are built into the assembled product. The Future The development of the electric automobile will owe more to innovative solar and aeronautical engineering and advanced satellite and radar technology than to traditional automotive design and construction.

The electric car has no engine, exhaust system, transmission, muffler, radiator, or spark plugs. It will require neither tune-ups nor—truly revolutionary—gasoline. Instead, its power will come from alternating current (AC) electric motors with a brushless design capable of spinning up to 20,000 revolutions/minute. Batteries to power these motors will come from high performance cells capable of generating more than 100 kilowatts of power. And, unlike the lead-acid batteries of the past and present, future batteries will be environmentally safe and recyclable. Integral to the braking system of the vehicle will be a power inverter that converts direct current electricity back into the battery pack system once the accelerator is let off, thus acting as a generator to the battery system even as the car is driven long into the future. The growth of automobile use and the increasing resistance to road building have made our highway systems both congested and obsolete. But new electronic vehicle technologies that permit cars to navigate around the congestion and even drive themselves may soon become possible.

Turning over the operation of our automobiles to computers would mean they would gather information from the roadway about congestion and find the fastest route to their instructed destination, thus making better use of limited highway space. The advent of the electric car will come because of a rare convergence of circumstance and ability. Growing intolerance for pollution combined with extraordinary technological advancements will change the global transportation paradigm that will carry us into the twenty-first century. Where To Learn More Books Abernathy, William. The Productivity Dilemma: Roadblock to Innovation in the Automobile Industry. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978. Gear Design, Manufacturing & Inspection Manual. Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Inc., 1990. Hounshell, David. From the American System to Mass Production. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. Lamming, Richard. Beyond Partnership: Strategies for Innovation & Lean Supply. Prentice Hall, 1993. Making the Car. Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of the United States, 1987. Mortimer, J., ed. Advanced Manufacturing in the Automotive Industry. Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 1987. Mortimer, John.

Advanced Manufacturing in the Automotive Industry. Air Science Co., 1986. Nevins, Allen and Frank E. Hill. Ford: The Times, The Man, The Company. Scribners, 1954. Seiffert, Ulrich. Automobile Technology of the Future. Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., 1991. Sloan, Alfred P. My Years with General Motors. Doubleday, 1963. Periodicals Car History 4U - History of Motor Car / Automobile Manufacturers History of Motor Car / Automobile Manufacturers | Print | 7.1 Early Steam Powered Car Manufacturers 1851 - United States: The American Steam Carriage Co. was founded; possibly the first steam driven carriage manufacturer in the USA. 1897 to 1924 - United States: The “Stanley Steamer” was manufactured by Francis and Freeland Stanley. It was the best selling steam car ever produced. In 1902 Francis and Freeland established the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, selling their interests to Prescott Warren in 1917.

1899 to about 1904 - United States: The Locomobile Company manufactured several thousand steam powered “Runabout” models. 7.2 Early Electric Powered Car Manufacturers 1894 - United States: America's first car factory was opened by Henry G. Morris and Pedro Salom. It started by building “Electrobat” electric cars. 1896 - United States: The Woods Motor Vehicle Company started to manufacture electric powered cars. 1898 - Spain: Emilio de la Cuadra started to produce electric powered cars in Barcelona under the name “La Cuadra”. 1900 to 1903 - Canada: Canadian Motors Limited produced a small two-seater electric powered car called the "Motette". 1901 - France: The French car manufacturer De Dion-Bouton produced a small number of electric cars. 1902 - United States: Henry and Clem Studebaker produced their first electric powered car. Note: By 1908-1909 they had switched to fitting internal combustion engines to their vehicles.

7.3 Early Petrol Powered Car Manufacturers 1888 - Germany: Benz went into production and built about twenty-five vehicles up to 1892. In 1894 he began mass production of the “Viktoria” and “Velo” cars. By 1895 his company, Benz & Cie., which he founded in 1871, had sold 1,132 vehicles. Velo - 1894 Velo presentation in London - 1898 1890 - Germany: Gottlieb Daimler formed “Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft” (Daimler Motors Company), with the original purpose of building engines. Daimler sold his first car in 1892 and by 1895 some 30 vehicles had been produced. During the 1890s he sold licenses for design, use of the Daimler name and patents in a number of countries.

To overcome certain legal problems selling Daimler cars in France, Emil Jellinek, a Daimler distributer, offered to place a large order if Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft made a car for him bearing his daughter's name “Mercedes”. These cars proved enormously popular and in 1902 Daimler (Germany), to avoid any further confusion and licensing troubles, adopted the name Mercedes for their cars. In 1926 Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft merged with Karl Benz’s “Benz & Cie” to form the Daimler-Benz car company which built Mercedes-Benz cars (and trucks). 1890 - France: The French “Panhard et Levassor” car manufacturing company, which was founded the previous year, produced their first car which was fitted with a Daimler engine. The four-wheeled “Systeme” Panhard model they produced in 1895 was possibly the first car fitted with a sliding gear transmission. It was also the first car with a front-mounted engine and a rear-wheel drive – an installation that became known as the “FR Layout”.

1890 - France: Armand Peugeot started manufacturing four-wheeled cars that were powered by a Daimler petrol fuelled engine, producing 4 cars in that year. In 1891 he produced sixty-five Type 3 & 4 models. The first Peugeot designed engine was produced in 1896. The 8 hp (6 kW) engine was fitted at the rear of the 1897 Type 15 model. In the 1890s Peugeot produced 24 different models; Types 2 to 29 (Types 13, 20, 22, & 23 were not cars). Note: In 1889 one Serpollet-Peugeot car was made, which probably explains why the first Peugeot Type was #2.

Annual production volume varied from three Type 10 (1894), two Type 12 (1895) and two Type 25 (1898) to 419 Type 26 (1899 to 1902) and several hundred Type 15 4-seater Phaeton models (1897 to 1901). Around this time Peugeot became the first manufacturer to fit (solid) rubber tires to a petrol powered car. What model, what year? The first Peugeot car to be fitted with a steering wheel was the 1901 Type 36 model. In 1902 the company moved the engine to the front of the Type 48 model. By 1903 half of all the cars built in France were produced by Armand Peugeot’s “S.S. des Automobiles Peugeot” company. 1893 - Britain: The UK patent rights to the Gottlieb Daimler's engine were purchased by Frederick Simms, who formed a new company, the "Daimler Motor Syndicate".

In 1896 Simms and Harry Lawson moved into car production under the name "Daimler Motor Company". The licence granted to the Daimler Motor Company included the right to use the Daimler name in Great Britain. Daimler became the official mode of transportation of British royalty in 1898. In 1908 the company acquired a licence to build and fit engines designed by J H Knight into its motor cars. 1895 - Britain: Frederick, Frank and George Lanchester formed the “Lanchester Motor Company”. In the same year the company built the first British four-wheeled motor car powered by a petrol fuelled internal combustion engine. 1896 – United States: The Duryea Motor Wagon Company produced the United States first production car. All 13 cars produced by the company were produced in 1896. In about 1898 the brothers sold the original company. Frank went on to produce the Stevens-Duryea car and Charles produced Duryea vehicles up to 1917.

1896 to about 1899 - France: Leon Bollee sold several hundred of his three-wheeled “Voiturette” cars. In 1899 he introduced a four-wheeled car that had independent suspension. By 1911 he was making 600 cars a year. 1897 - Austria: A company called Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft produced a car called the the Präsident. The company later became better known as Tatra. The design was based on a Benz car and about twelve were made. In 1900 the company produced the 2,714 cc Type A model, a car with a top speed of 40 kph (25 mph). A total of 22 were made. The Type A was followed by the Type B in 1902 and the 3,308 cc Type S in about 1905. Note: In 1918, when the Austrian borders were redrawn after World War 1, the company found itself located in Czechoslovakia.

1897 – United States: The Olds Motor Vehicle Company was formed. In 1899 the name was changed to the Olds Motor Works and shortly afterwards, in about 1901, Olds started the world’s first car production line. From 1901 to 1905 over 18,500 “Curved Dash” Oldsmobiles were produced: a car with a 1,565 cc engine and a top speed of 32 kph (20 mph). Photo copyright : 1898 - Japan: A Panhard-Levassor is thought to have been the first car to be introduced into Japan. 1898 – Holland: Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker started building carriages in 1886 and in late 1898 produced a Benz car under licence called “Spijker-Benz. By 1900 they had produced two two-cylinder models, of 3 and 5 hp. In 1903 the company introduced their first four and six-cylinder models, including the 8,821 cc 60/80 hp model.

The 60/80 hp model was the first car in the world fitted with a 6-cylinder engine and permanent all-wheel drive. Note: This car can be seen at the Nationaal Automobiel Museum. See Car Museums Section ( Holland ) . Spyker cars, with their characteristic circular radiators, became known as “the Rolls Royce of the continent”. In 1903 the company changed its name from Spijker to Spyker. In 1907 a four-cylinder, 2,544 cc Spyker 14/18 hp tourer model came second of only 3 cars to finish in the demanding 10,000 mile (16,000 km) Peking to Paris race. See Part 2, The Last 100 Years, Section 8.8.1 (Spyker) for further information. 1898 - France: The Renault Type A Voiturette (“Little Car”) was launched on Louis Renault’s 21st birthday and remained in production until 1903. Is that 1903 date true?

The early Type A’s had a 1 litre, 1 hp engine and a top speed of 35 kph (22 mph). Later Type A’s were fitted with a 270 cc De Dion, 1.75 hp engine and had a top speed of 45 kph (28 mph). In 1899 the Renault brothers, Louis, Marcel and Fernand, along with Thomas Evert, formed the “Société Renault Frères”. Between 1899 and 1903 seven more Voiturette models were produced; Types B, C, D, E, G, H & J. The 450 cc, 3 hp Type B (1899) had two doors and a roof. Was it the world’s first sedan car? The Type C (1900) was Renault’s first 4-seater car. The very first Renault engine was built in 1902. It was a 3,750 cc 4-cylinder engine of 20-30 hp and was fitted to the Type H/J models.

In 1903 and 1904 some 7 new models were introduced: Types L, M, N, R, S, T and U. See Part 2, The Last 100 Years, Section 8.5.4. Late 1890s - Germany: By the end of the 19th century Benz & Cie. was the world's largest car manufacturer. 1900 - Italy: Fiat opened their first factory in Turin and employed 150 people. In that first year they produced 24 cars. By 1910 Fiat was the largest car company in Italy. 1900 - Italy: Cesare Isotta and Oreste Fraschini founded a company called “Società Milanese Automobili Isotta, Fraschini & C.” The first car “Isotta-Fraschini” built was fitted with a four-cylinder, 24 hp petrol powered engine. The company initially started out producing racing cars, fitting a 100 hp engine to one of its cars in 1905.

In the 1920s “Isotta-Fraschini” deluxe limousines were being purchased by the rich and famous. Tipo 8 Sala Phaeton - circa 1920 1900 - Britain: The Lanchester Motor Company started production. In 1930 the company was acquired by the British Daimler Motor Company. 1900 - France: The French car manufacturer De Dion-Bouton was the largest automobile manufacturer in the world, manufacturing 400 cars and 3,200 engines that year. In the same year the company opened a factory in America. 1901 - Austria: Johann Puch started to produce car engines, followed by cars in 1904. In 1906 he produced a two-cylinder “Puch Voiturette”. In 1909 one of his cars achieved a world speed record of 130 kph (82 mph). 1903 - Holland: The Eysink cars were produced from 1903 to 1919.

The Eysink brothers built their first car in 1897, making about 10 cars prior to actually going into production. Just over 300 cars were manufactured, including 10/12 hp, 16/20 hp, 20/30 hp and the 30/40 hp models. A model called the “Bebe” was also produced from 1912 to 1919. Other early Dutch cars include the “Aarts” (1899), which was then advertised as “Neerlandia, the first Dutch Car”, the “Van Gink“ (1899 to about 1903), the “Altena” (1900-06) of which 40-50 were produced, and the “Bij 't Vuur” (1901-06). 1903 - United States: Henry Ford formed the Ford Motor Company . In 1908 he started production of the famous “Model T” (the “Tin Lizzie”).

Model T - 1923 For Information on the history of the Model T Ford, see Part 2, The Last 100 Years, Section 9.3. 1903 to 1905 - United States: Oldsmobile was the largest motor car manufacturer in the world. 1904: The USA started to produce more cars than France. © copyright - form and function Comments View Full Screen Shoppers who want to buy American cars have a relatively easy job, provided that their definition of an American car is one that's assembled in the U.S.A., of mainly domestic parts. They can consult a new car's window sticker for a quick rundown on the percentage of domestic content and the country and state in which the car was assembled, posted to comply with the American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA). The first letter or digit of the car's vehicle identification number (VIN) confirms where the car was built. Cars assembled in the U.S. start with a 1, 4 or 5, for example. But some car shoppers want to know more than just where a car was assembled, particularly if that "American" car comes from a foreign carmaker, such as BMW, Hyundai or Toyota.

They want to know if purchasing a foreign car that's made in America will support the U.S. economy. Where does the money from that American car wind up? Does it stay in the U.S., or does it go back to the carmaker's home country? How the Money Flows Following the money isn't easy. All carmakers are global companies and they employ people in multiple nations. They build cars in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. And they pay taxes (when they pay taxes) wherever they do business. For example: When Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. orders Tacoma pickups for U.S. distribution, it gets some of them from Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California, a Mexican assembly plant southeast of San Diego. Toyota's Mexican company keeps the money it receives from Toyota's U.S. company, and the U.S. company gets its revenue by selling the trucks to franchised Toyota dealers, who then make their money from the trucks by selling them to consumers throughout the country. That same chain of transactions holds true for most automakers selling vehicles in the U.S. made at their plants in Mexico, Canada and other countries. The corporate financial reports, however, tend to wrap it all up in one big bundle.

The Kogod Made in America Auto Index tries to tease out more details about a car's money trail. Frank DuBois, an expert in global supply chain management and an associate professor at American University's Kogod School of Business, developed the index, which incorporates financial information into a car's "American-ness" rating. It assigns scores for such factors as where a company is headquartered (under the heading of "profit margin"), where most of the research and development are done, where assembly occurs, and where the engine and transmission are produced. For example, the index gives an American-made car no credit in the profit margin category if the carmaker is based overseas. With Ford Motor Company and General Motors, DuBois argues, the majority of the company's shareholders are in the U.S., "and the profits go to the central coffers and are paid out" to mostly U.S. shareholders. With a foreign carmaker such as Honda, Kia or Porsche, the profits primarily go back to shareholders in their home countries, he says.

If a carmaker assembles its vehicles in the U.S., however, the index grants it full marks in the "labor" category, as well as in the category of "inventory, capital and other expenses." Those scores reflect the wages the carmaker pays to American workers, the money it reinvests in U.S. manufacturing facilities and taxes it pays here, DuBois says. So that's DuBois' formula. If you're looking for more detail, here's a deeper dive into where the money goes when a car buyer takes home an American-made car produced by a foreign carmaker. Where They Pay Taxes It's possible to say unequivocally that Toyota Motor Corp., for instance, earns money and pays taxes in Japan and in multiple foreign countries. It also is clear that through its multiple U.S.-based sales, marketing, manufacturing and research and testing subsidiaries, Toyota generates lots of cash flow in this country. It also has a U.S. tax obligation. But foreign and domestic corporations spend a lot of time and effort (not to mention money) trying to minimize their taxes. Like any corporation, a foreign company with operations in the U.S.

is able to offset taxes here with investments and many of the same deductions that domestic corporations use. Overseas-based carmakers with U.S. operations pay federal, state and local payroll taxes as well. It's a safe bet to say that even a company as large as Toyota doesn't have as hefty a U.S. tax bill as does a Ford or GM. But it's likely that the foreign carmakers' U.S. tax bills (at least before all the possible deductions) are roughly in proportion to their market share. Both Toyota and Honda also say that much of the revenue generated by their U.S. operations stays with their U.S.-based subsidiaries and is pumped back into operations, capital improvements and employment growth. One reason is that there are tremendous tax and currency exchange savings to be had doing it that way, versus sending the money back to Japan and then having to pull funding from Japan to finance U.S. operations. What Happens to the Profits? Only the corporate and government accountants know for sure precisely how much of the profit a foreign carmaker realizes stays in the U.S. and how much goes back to corporate headquarters and the global investors who own company shares.

But many of the major overseas automakers (BMW, Daimler, Honda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota and Volkswagen) sell a form of stock investment in the U.S. that allows investors to share in corporate profits. American Depositary Receipts, commonly called ADRs, represent a direct investment in the automaker. Just like common stock, ADR prices rise and fall on the exchanges along with the fortunes of the companies that issue them. They pay regular dividends, so buying, holding and selling ADRs is a way to participate in an overseas automaker's profits, including those earned in the U.S. and in other markets as well. While anyone can buy ADRs, it is likely that American investors purchase many of them. One source with a major foreign-based car company, who asked not to be identified because he wasn't officially speaking for his company, says he believes American investors own a "significant portion" of the automaker's ADRs. The Role of Payroll Foreign-based car companies that build cars and parts in the U.S. are paying American employees to do that work, says Edmunds.com Senior Economist Lacey Plache.

Those employees use their wages to buy houses and groceries and invest in their retirement. That is money that feeds the U.S. economy. Carmakers that aren't based in the U.S. don't have as many workers here as do Ford, GM and Chrysler (which in December 2014 was renamed FCA US LLC and is a member of the Netherlands-based Fiat Chrysler Automobiles [FCA] family of companies). But they do have quite a few, as recent statistics from the top two Japanese companies show. American Honda Motor Co. had a U.S. payroll in 2014 of $2.2 billion for 29,500 U.S.-based employees. Additionally, there are 153,000 people in the U.S. employed by dealerships that sell Honda cars, motorcycles, generators, lawnmowers and other equipment, Honda says. Using the average 2014 annual U.S. individual wage of $44,206, that would be an additional $6.76 billion in wages for which Honda is indirectly responsible. Toyota, which had 33,765 direct employees in the U.S.

in 2014, reported a total payroll of just under $2.9 billion. The company's 1,500 Lexus, Scion and Toyota dealerships had 132,900 employees, good for a $5.8 billion annual payroll at the 2014 average wages. By comparison, General Motors counted 91,000 U.S. employees and about 4,300 dealerships with more than 250,000 workers at the end of 2014. Ford Motor Co. had 80,000 U.S. employees and 3,247 dealerships. In 2014, Chrysler had 55,000 U.S. workers and 2,630 dealerships (including 218 Fiat and Alfa Romeo showrooms). Foreign Carmakers Buy American Foreign automobile makers with U.S. manufacturing operations also buy a lot of their parts and components here, to say nothing of their supplies and office and manufacturing equipment.

It makes sense to do so, they say, because shipping costs, taxes and duties often make it more expensive to ship parts and supplies from the home country than to source them here, where the plants and office facilities are located. Take Toyota and Honda as the examples again: The two companies reported that in 2014, they collectively spent $68.5 billion in the U.S. on parts, equipment and supplies. Honda had the larger share at $35.6 billion, with Toyota reporting $32.9 billion in purchases. While some of the suppliers are U.S. arms of overseas companies and sent some of that $68.5 billion home as profit, most of the money remained in circulation in the form of things like wages, raw materials purchases by the suppliers, domestic transportation costs and even the U.S. taxes those suppliers paid, the companies said. Those suppliers include advertising firms and market researchers. Making Capital Investments The factories and other physical facilities that foreign carmakers build in the U.S. also represent money that mostly stays and is circulated domestically, covering the cost of land, infrastructure improvements and materials, as well as wages paid to construction workers and engineering and architectural firms.

Overall, Toyota says that it has directly invested more than $21.2 billion in capital projects in the U.S., including 10 factories and a number of warehouses, research, design and engineering facilities, and offices. Honda says its total capital investment in the U.S. through 2014 hit $16 billion, with the bulk of it spent on the company's nine U.S. manufacturing plants. Volkswagen, which completed its only U.S. manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2011, says the $1 billion factory has 2,400 direct employees and is responsible for almost 10,000 jobs at U.S.-based suppliers. The company says it expects to issue an average of $300 million a year in car-parts supply contracts in Tennessee alone, and has plans to add an additional 2,000 employees at the Chattanooga plant over the next year or so. BMW has just one U.S. plant, in South Carolina. But it's a big one, with 8,000 employees and the capacity to build almost 350,000 vehicles a year, many of which are shipped from the U.S.

to other countries. It has invested about $6 billion in that facility, and in 2013 announced a $1 billion, two-year expansion program to boost capacity by 50 percent and employment by 10 percent. By contrast, domestic carmaker Ford had 24 assembly, power plant and tooling factories in the U.S. at the end of 2014. GM counted 39. The Chrysler Group (now FCA US LLC) had 23. Finding Your Bottom Line The U.S. holdings and employment of the three domestic carmakers easily outstrip those of overseas car companies. But for a shopper making a purchase decision, it's hard to ignore the fact that there is a positive impact on the U.S economy when purchasing from companies such as Honda and Toyota, or smaller players such as BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Volkswagen. It's up to you to decide how the financials pencil out in your "American" car purchase. To find a dealership that knows how to treat shoppers right, please visit Edmunds.com's Dealer Ratings and Reviews .

Cars Made In Britain | AA Cars made in Britain Supporting UK manufacturing Car models to consider if you want to buy British Our automotive industry turned over more than £71 billion in 2015 and employs more than 800,000 people including 169,000 directly in manufacturing. There's very strong foreign demand for British-built cars: More than 1.6 million cars were produced here in the first 11 months of 2016 Almost four fifths (78%) was exported UK car manufacturing output in November 2016 was higher than at any time since 1999 More than half of exports were to the European Union More than 2 million engines were produced in the UK More than 70 different models are built in the UK by more than 30 manufacturers.

British owned Mclaren Automotive (570S, 540C, 570GT, 650S, 675LT and P1) Made in Britain MINI – MINI, MINI Clubman and MINI Countryman, in Cowley, Oxford Honda – Civic and CR-V in Swindon Toyota – Auris, Auris hybrid and Avensis in Burnaston, Derbyshire Nissan – Juke, Qashqai, Note and Leaf and Infiniti Q30 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear Lotus – Elise, Evora and Exige in Norfolk Aston Martin – DB9, Vantage, Rapide, Vanquish, and DB11 in Gaydon, Warwickshire Bentley Motors – Continental, Flying Spur and Mulsanne in Crewe, Cheshire Rolls Royce – Ghost and Wraith in Goodwood, West Sussex Jaguar – F-Pace and XE in Solihull, and F-type, XJ, XF and XE in Castle Bromwich, Birmingham Land Rover – Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque in Halewood, Merseyside, and Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Defender in Solihull, West Midlands Vauxhall

 – Astra at Ellesmere Port and Vivaro van in Luton Ford stopped building cars in the UK in 2002 and vans (Transits) in July 2013 but continues to manufacture engines in Bridgend and Dagenham and transmissions in Halewood.

11 January 2017

Question: Which car manufacturer made a model called GT4O?
Answer: Ford