Can We Produce Another Model T?

Editor's Note

June / July 2009 By: Bob Cochnar Volume 7 Number 3

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Now, this is not Car & Driver or Road & Track you're looking at, despite the number of automobiles—old, new and still on the drawing boards—displayed here. What we hope to convey is that the auto industry, which may well be flat on its back, hasn't thrown in the towel (or the lug nuts) yet. Matter of fact, R&D spending by the industry in 2006 was $16.5 billion, the third-largest of any industry.

Of course, you might argue that much of that R&D money is being spent unwisely, but I think close followers of the industry would disagree. Two of them (notably Richard Gerth, formerly senior research scientist for the Center for Automotive Research, and Sivan Sabesan, an industry analyst in Frost & Sullivan's technical insights practice), beginning on pages 10 and 11, review what actually is happening in the industry.

Several of the national energy laboratories are also busily engaged in automotive research and their efforts will most certainly be broadened because of new government funding. This funding opens the door to new innovation and, of course, the commercialization of government-sponsored technology.

And if the stars and planets are properly aligned—alas, they seldom are—perhaps we'll see the new Model T on our highways and byways. We can only wish; the impact of Henry Ford's innovation was extraordinary. When it was introduced in 1908 it had a 20-horsepower, 4-cylinder engine, reached a top speed of about 45 mph, got about 13 to 21 miles to a gallon of gasoline and weighed 1,200 pounds.

In 1914 Ford, with 13,000 employees, produced 300,000 cars while 299 other companies, with 66,350 employees, produced about 280,000 vehicles. By the time the Tin Lizzie ended production in 1927, more than 25 million of them had been built and sold.

You could call the Model T the first global car. By 1921, it accounted for almost 57 percent of the world's automobile production. It was also manufactured in several countries and had dealerships on six continents. The car was the best-selling vehicle ever until surpassed in 1972 by the Volkswagen Beetle.

Indeed, in 1999 a panel of automotive experts from 32 countries chose the Model T as the most influential car of the 20th century.

Along the way, Henry Ford perfected the assembly line, established a minimum wage ($5 a day, high at the time) and the eight-hour day.

Can a new crop of innovators create a new Model T that would become the most influential car of the 21st century? Probably not, but perhaps we can come close by developing a few vehicles that could vie for the title. As you'll see in this issue Innovation, we are still a nation of innovators.