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| | In introducing its new Explorer in Japan, Ford has put the steering wheel on the wrong side ... on purpose. Over the course of many years, Ford has sold right hand drive model cars in Japan where everyone drives on the left. Studies conducted by Ford showed that left hand drive cars are viewed as expensive status symbols and that by switching the steering wheel to the other side would enhance the allure of the Explorer in Japan. The company wants to attract upscale buyers in that country. Ford Japan President Katsuhiko Sato stated that the Explorer is an offering of the American way, an easier lifestyle that puts emphasis on the individual.
Cars in History:
Automobiles during the Second World War:
Hydro-mechanical automatic gearboxes had their origin since 1940 when they appeared in the American serial models “General Motors”, in particular, the "Pontiac" and "Oldsmobile". Americans during this period looking for cheaper models began to use levers for switching over the gears on a steering column, and the factory "Packard" was the first in the world from 1939 has to equip their expensive models with conditioners.
The USA and Germany in 1936-39 carefully created road automobiles for the army. German army machines of three unified types had an independent suspension bracket for all wheels, the wheel formula 4х4, interlocking differentials, and four controlled wheels. In a counterbalance to the German design school, the American school developed the simple (design wise) jeeps with a dependent spring suspension bracket of wheels.
Under the requirements of the military department of the USA the American factories "Studebaker", "Chevrolet", "International" and RIO developed in 1942 the large-scale production of three axle complete driving lorries with a carrying capacity of 2.5 tons. Their design for many firms became a sample for imitation. But, probably, the most interesting design became the floating complete driving lorry - an amphibian "GMC-DUKV" in1944. First the time in the world, the centralized air pressure control system was used for these vehicles.
Germany before the forthcoming war emphasized on development of production of diesel lorries of the increased passage and diesel car models ("Mercedes-Benz", 1936). It is impossible to ignore the English armored car АЕК (1942), the first in the world with the diesel engine.
Post-war period. “National Automobiles” and new concepts:
The majority of countries, which have taken part in the Second World War, during wartime, have completely turned off the manufacture of cars, or reduced it to a minimum. The first post-war years are marked also with the rationing of gasoline and the shortage of thin steel sheets for forging of the components for the bodies of cars. The industry undertook to satisfy the famine on new automobiles with cheap cars, mainly with a small mileage ("Citroen", Fiat, "Volkswagen", "Maiko", "Austin", "Standard", "Isetta"). These automobiles represented some kind of "momentary" solution of the problem. But leading firms, expecting the tendencies of development for decades forward, in the 1950's created cardinal new designs. They have appreciably defined the further evolution of automobile engineering.
The company "Daimler-Benz" in 1951 patented the concept of a safe automobile, which in the 1960's found an avalanche of applications on many serial models. The English firm "Jaguar" acted as the initiator for equipping the set of serial cars with disk brakes. Another English firm, "Rover", for the first time in the world in the spring of 1950 carried out tests on the experimental model "Т1" equipped with a gas turbine. The factories of Fiat (Italy), "Hotchkiss" and "Reno" in France and GAS in the USSR followed this example. But their vehicles, as well as "Rover" remained as seeds, waiting for when there would be favorable "climatic" conditions when these sprouts can bring a practical crop.
Two technical revolutions took place in the automobile industry in the USA in the first decade after the war, the consequences of which very quickly spread all over the world. The firm "Chevrolet" since 1953 started the release of plastic (fiber glass fabric plus epoxy resin) bodies for sports cars. And other American company, the tire company "Goodrich" (nowadays "GoodYear"), in 1948 mastered the manufacture of tubeless tires.
In Europe also the tire revolution took place. The company "Michelin" (France) developed a design and technology of radial type tires, and protected them with appropriate patents and in 1953 executed the fourth condition of a priority - organized mass production of such tire covers. The radial arrangement of strings of a cord in them reduced internal losses, and the automobiles equipped with them consumed less fuel. Radial economic tires in the market appeared just at the right time - in Europe the shortage of fuel caused by the Suez crisis in 1956 was felt.
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