what happened to us automobile manufacturing during the war *?
after the bombing of pearl harbor in 1941, fdr ordered a freeze on automobile manufacturing. he was afraid that if the us didn't have enough cars for its citizens, they would flock to buy whatever was left after the war. this is because cars are critical to support civilian society–if everyone can't drive, people can't get places. to remedy this situation it became illegal for anyone but individuals who exported goods or parts overseas to manufacture automobiles in america or parts thereof without special permission from the government. the government also began heavily taxing car ownership and gas domestically.
this had disastrous effects on many americans who couldn’t afford cars anymore and were forced to take public transportation much farther distances since there were no buses until
how did us manufacturing change during the war?
manufacturing during world war ii was as extensive as any war effort the us has ever had to take on. in fact, manufacturing often came before typical food production, because it takes so much more time and money up-front but then provides a constant supply of goods for the military and publicly that we could never otherwise afford.
initially, small arms and ammunition accounted for most of our wartime production. after pearl harbor and after lend-lease started in 1941 (a program where we loaned/gave allied nations important raw materials like copper or aluminum), steel became a major focus too; every ten tons could make five artillery pieces. next came airplanes (even though gasoline was rationed) followed by tanks (because they were such
why did us auto industry fail?
three reasons why the us auto industry failed are due to increased uaw labor costs, lack of innovation in new products, and global competition.
first, there was a long history of unionization which meant that workers could ask for higher wages with each contract negotiation. secondly, the industry became stagnant – it didn't innovate much in the past decade or two even though it needed too. lastly, foreign competitors took over more than 50% of us domestic traffic by providing cheaper cars with better fuel efficiency at times when north americans were trying to cut back on excessive fuel spending. and this trend is expected to continue as asian automakers have not only become well established within their own borders but are now expanding into other markets such as europe and latin america
what did us car companies produce during wwii?
during wwii, us car companies produced tanks and other military vehicles. this information might be useful to you if you're doing research on the pacific theatre of world war ii.
during the second world war the allies benefited enormously from american industrial prowess in automobile manufacture, while maintaining but low levels of automobile production for civilian use or export purposes. some 700,000 trucks were built for allied armies during the war years at a cost per truck-per-year considerably lower than that charged by smaller countries' manufacturers – due in part to america's size and mass-production capacity.
the nation's automobile industry also assembled m5 stuart light tank designs for us troops stationed in africa and europe after most tunisian bridges had been bombed by german forces
