During the 1930's, the automobile industry was one of the most important areas in The United State's economy. Americans were spending much of their available income purchasing and maintaining their car. Middle class citizens bought on credit, a novel idea of the 1930's that allowed for many middle class families to purchase a car and pay it off over time. Since the 1920's Ford had dominated the vehicle industry, but more companies got into the car business during the 1930's. The most popular car producing companies at the time Ford, GM, and Chrysler collectively called the "Big Three," made up nearly 90% of the cars on the road. Their competitiveness and efficiency in production left many smaller car companies bankrupt, epitomizing the take over of big businesses through out America's industries during the 1930's. During this time car companies developed the new yearly model. Prior to the thirties, car companies had few models that were infrequently updated. New business strategies by auto companies figured that if they updated cars annually, improving the model's aesthetics and technology, more consumers would be willing to buy new cars. One of the biggest advancement in new vehicles was the automatic transmission, freeing the driver from having to change gears as opposed to the average manual transmission. However, this new technology was not accessible by a majority of Americans, the economic depression caused a four million drop in automobile sales. The Great Depression's effect on the industrial economy of the 1930's included the automobile industry. Many companies were forced to lay off workers, adding to the already high unemployment rate which reached its height in 1933 at 24.9%.
Sources: Time Line Encyclopedia Info. Picture of Car History Channel
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