Environmental Challenges Facing American Auto Industry Essay

Automobiles play a major role in today's society. Almost every American owns at least one motorized transportation vehicle. Some say they make our lives better by reaching places faster than before. Others say they are a harmful to the environment. Have they made our society better or worse? They may be fast, but do we as humans want our environment to suffer because of time. Face it, cars pollute. And they release destructive chemicals into the air. Air pollution can threaten the health of many subjects in the environment including human beings.

Introduction Automobile usage has increased in America and elsewhere in the world. In a research done by Sutherland, J., et al. (2004) “The US has a contributed to 200 million passengers in cars and light truck over the past few years. Further in 1990, studies showed that US cars increased six times faster than human population. The leaders in the automotive industry must adopt some key elements to ensure success in this fast-moving environment. They must invest in knowing their markets, building brands, adapting product strategies and taking long-term view on their goals and objectives. This paper outlines some of the key factors which should be considered. Environmental factors automotive designers and engineers have always said the main threats in the American Automotive industry are the environmental factors such as fuel economy and the clean air regulations. Automotive Emission posed different problems than manufacturing discharges such as coal smoke. Increased fossil-fuel emission has resulted from the million car increase. Irritation smog, which is comprised of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulfur oxide and other various chemical mixtures are cited in major cities such as Los Angeles. These auto emissions are also said to cause headaches, visual pollutions, contribute to lung cancers and other respiratory disease. In the end, the engineers have designed cars that are better environmental performers, cost effective and fuel efficient to reduce the environmental

“The US auto industry directly employs 1.55 million Americans and impacting a total of 7.25 million US jobs, generates $500 billion in annual compensation.” (1) With such a large industry looming in the economy, it is inevitable that it will face environmental challenges. Environmental challenges can be hard to control and are essential to the success of a company. The challenges that the auto industry must contend with are many and complex, such as; global competition, consumer opinions, and new technology, a difficult fight lies ahead.

It all began in the late 1800s when Germany and France decided to make the greatest invention that billions of people use all over the world to this day. In 1901 the first car was invented and designed by Wilhelm Maybach for Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. J.Frank and Charles Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts designed the first successful American gasoline automobile in 1893. This invention caused many positive results such as factory jobs for millions of people, they transport people to important places, and they give people a sense of freedom. But it also caused some negative results such as car accidents, greenhouse gasses, and toxic chemicals. The automobile has made our lives better because it helps us get to a place we need to go, shows the responsibility of a person, and they are making hybrid cars to help better our environment.

America had a global competition as it was not the only country who had the industry. China, South Korea, Japan and India were also procuring automobiles. In 1995 America and Japan made an agreement on having more outlets in each countries, to be able to sell their products. This agreement created job opportunity and made their cars and parts available in both countries. This agreement also invented computation. Japan was producing good quality and affordable automobile such as Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi and more. Japan’s automobile became well known all over the world.

Every day, millions of Americans turn on the engines of their cars and drive to school or work. What these people do not realize is that the vehicles they operate greatly pollute the planet. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent website post, “Environmental Impacts from Automobiles”,

The history of the first automobile is not exactly known but the first creator of a true automobile would go to Karl Benz in Germany during 1885. The first vehicle had three wheels and an internal combustion engine (“Karl Benz” Biography.com). Although the first automobile was produced in Europe its real potential would not be fully unlocked until many years later in America; these first cars produced in Europe were unreliable and very difficult to produce. Henry Ford was the first person to come up with a reasonable way to build and produce the automobile. First Ford came up to a problem he made cars just like every other car manufacturer with a few people building the cars with only one or two vehicles being produced a day; the cars were called the model A which had two-cylinders and eight-horsepower, and all the parts needed for them were ordered from other better established companies. Ford then created the model T and put his revolutionary new idea into practice to create the Model T which had a 4-cylinder engine and produced twenty horsepower. His new idea was the assembly line; many people worked to build the cars now and each person did one job every day all day. The people doing these jobs were very

The first working automobile invented by Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot ran on steam power. Not many people owned these steam powered automobiles. The first gasoline powered automobile was invented in 1885 along with the electric car around five years later. The automobile became a better form of transportation and everyone began to buy them to go places faster, when they got cheaper more and more people owned automobiles. A few years after the electric and gasoline powered automobiles were invented it became a thing most people had. Most automobiles were made in Europe until the United States figured out cheaper and easier ways to make cars. The first automobiles were invented and made in the late 1700’s and in the 1800’s. The cheaper and more efficient

Even though Germany and France perfected the blueprint for automobiles, America took the automotive industry by storm. Henry Ford created new ideas of mass-production techniques that soon became standard for Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. Those three companies in the 1920s were the “ Big Three.” Manufacturers directed their resources to the military during World War II, however Europe and Japan battled with the demand.

German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz built the first gasoline- powered automobiles in the mid- 1800’s. For years many tried to build them as well. One of these enthusiastic people was Henry Ford. Ford wanted to make a car that was lighter, faster, and cheaper than any other car made by anyone else.

Karl Benz made the first car in 1886. He was a German inventor. He exclaimed out of what he had discovered. This first vehicle did run on gasoline. However this unbelievable invention has evolved over the years and it's better than riding horse back.

The American automobile industry has quite a history. From the sale of the first Ford Model A on July 23rd, 1903 (Ford Motor Company, n.d), to the first Corvette rolling off the assembly line June 30th, 1953 (http://corvettestory.com/1953-Corvette-C1-First-Year-Modest-Beginnings.php, n.d.), to the automobile crisis and bailout from 2008 to 2010, and to many other historic achievements and crisis’ throughout the lifespan of the industry.

To begin with the car has changed so much in history. In 1807 Francois Isaac de Rivaz designed the first car powered by an internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen. Then later that century in 1886 the first petrol or gasoline powered automobile the Benz Patent motor wagon was invented by a man known as Karl Benz. Next in 1927 henry ford started selling the 1928 Model A to the public. Soon people started improving the car and then

The Automobile industry volume of growth has tremendously escalated in the United States. Years ago there were about 700 million vehicles registered in the world back in 1999, within the USA it contributed over 200 million passenger cars and trucks. In the 1990s, the number of vehicles in the United States had tripled six times faster than the human population back from 1969 to a global perspective on the environmental challenges. This is unbelievable, how industry multiplied and monopolized from years ago. All these issues point to the importance environmental concerns as they relate to the automotive industry. Recently the auto industry and its suppliers were addressed the

“Automobiles have a large impact on the quality of our environment and public health. Automobile use affects virtually every aspect of environmental quality - including noise levels, air quality, water pollution, and urban sprawl. Ninety percent of the environmental impact of automobiles occurs through the operation of the cars: about 10 percent from the production, raw materials and disposal of