Looking at the history of automotive engineering in the USA, Detroit did not play an important role at the end of the 19th century. Dominating are the existing industrial centers e.g. coal and steel production. For an astonishingly long time the steam-wagons (Stanley) in small numbers are on the market, much longer in the 20s such with electric drive.

Nevertheless, from the beginning of the new century, the combustion engine clearly dominates. America is still poor in its own innovations, but knows very well how to convert patents from Europe into an industrial production. However, the assembly line does not enter the automotive industry until 1913, taken over by Henry Ford from other production areas.

It is said to have been used by Oldsmobile before. They are market leaders in the founding of the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Cadillac is already there, but General Motors as the roof of a Buick outgoing association emerges only 1908 and 1909 under William Durant. It is even taken over by Chevrolet in 1916, two years later the position of GM is restored.

What would have going to happen to GM with the many unrelated purchases of Durant, if had not Alfred Sloan ordered from 1923 the conditions? For example, the association of several automobile brands, founded by the Maxwell-Briscoe Company of a former Oldsmobile employee, existed only from 1910 to 1913.

Incidentally, the founding of the own competition has tradition. After all, Ford, by the founding of the first car company in Detroit, is practically the Cadillac creator, because he leaved the company after disastrous figures and Henry M. Leyland later formed it to luxury manufacturer of the GM.

GM employees were also founding their own companies, Henry M. Leland founded Lincoln in 1917, Charles W. Nash formed from an existing company one of its own name the same year, In the same year. Walter P. Chrysler arranged the conditions at Willys-Overland and founds Chrysler in 1925 , Much later, in 1975, the DeLorean Motor Company was established.

Not mentioned here are now the many other manufacturers, which to play a significant role. Eventually, most of them like Plymouth, De Soto (Chrysler) and Lincoln (Ford) had to move under the roof of one of the big three. The process accelerates in the great depression at the beginning of the 30s. But there remain e.g. Studebaker, Nash, Hudson and Packard until after the Second World War.

Ford appears to be unintelligible in the lead, with the T model in the meantime half of the world's existing cars. But the stupidity of Henry Ford, whose idea of finally destroying his own work, was only to prevent with difficulty, General Motors opened it the chance to overtake. Legendary its success of the six-cylinder after the nine-month closure of the Ford factory. Henry Ford countered with a V8 in the new model A. 05/17

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