The motor industry is in the midst of an existential crisis. Thanks to the endeavours of Henry Ford and later Toyota engineer Taaichi Ohno, car plants churned out metal products in such volumes and so efficiently they became licences to print money.
The basic engineering of the combustion engine evolved, but the principles remained the same: small explosions of fossil fuels driving pistons to turn a crankshaft. Inside the cabin things got plusher, with radios, electric windows and even a few safety features such as seatbelts and later airbags. With an average of seven years between replacement models, the pace of change was steady and manageable.
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