Every single thing that exists on the earth today has a history. Like humans, motor vehicles also carry a vast amount of history behind them. A history that ignited four centuries ago. None of the automobiles (as we know them today) was invented in one day by just a couple of inventors.

今天地球上存在的每样东西都有一段历史。像人类一样，机动车辆也承载了大量的历史。四个世纪前点燃的历史。没有什么汽车(正如我们今天所知)是由几个发明家在一天之内发明出来的。

We’ve compiled a list that highlights a brief history of the evolution of cars from the very beginning. It is categorized into different sections, which in fact, are the milestones in the development of what we know today as the modern car.

我们整理了一份清单，重点介绍了汽车从诞生之初的发展简史。它被分为不同的部分，事实上，这些部分是我们今天所知的现代汽车发展的里程碑。

Cugnot’s Fardier a vapeur

居纽的蒸汽车法迪尔


It was around 1769-1771 when Nicolas–Joseph Cugnot build a self-propelled mechanical vehicle known as Fardier a vapeur. It was a steam-powered tricycle. Though it is a first of its kind, it shared plenty of problems like maintaining steam pressure and water supply.

大约在1769-1771年间，尼古拉·约瑟夫·居纽建造了一种名为法迪尔的自行式机械车辆。这是一辆蒸汽动力三轮车。虽然这是第一次，但它也有很多问题，比如保持蒸汽压力和供水。

Although Cugnot was widely credited for his work on the mechanical vehicle, the first-ever known steam engine was designed most probably by a Flemish member named Ferdinand Verbiest in 1672 in China. It was believed to be a toy model for the Chinese emperor. His work is still preserved in a museum in Paris.

尽管居纽因其在机械车辆方面的工作而广受赞誉，但已知的第一台蒸汽车很可能是由一位名叫南怀仁的弗拉芒人于1672年在中国设计的。它被认为是中国皇帝的玩具模型。他的作品仍然保存在巴黎的一家博物馆里。（弗拉芒近代属于比利时）
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Puffing Devil

蒸汽恶魔
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30 years later, after Cugnot, Richard Trevithick successfully built a road locomotive named “Puffing Devil.” Richard Trevithick was a British engineer born in Cornwall, England. In 1801, he built the Puffing devil, a full-sized steam road locomotive, which he later demonstrated by carrying several passengers from Fore Street to Camborne Hill, England.

30年后，在居纽之后，理查德·特雷维希克成功地建造了一辆名为“蒸汽恶魔”的公路机车。理查德·特雷维希克是一位出生在英国康沃尔的英国工程师。1801年，他制造了一种全尺寸的蒸汽道路机车--蒸汽魔鬼，后来他通过载着几名乘客从福尔街到英格兰的坎伯恩山来展示这一点。

Internal combustion engine

内燃机
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The development of the external combustion engine or steam engine was a major success, but at that time, it was not truly treated as the future of modern cars. In 1807, Nicephore Niepce with his brother Claude created the first-ever internal combustion engine and named it “Pyreolophore.” An internal combustion engine uses two or more elements to produce energy by the combustion process. After the invention, however, both decided to install their engine in a boat.

外燃机或蒸汽机的发展是一个重大的成功，但在那个时候，它并没有被真正视为现代汽车的未来。1807年，尼斯福尔 · 尼普西和他的兄弟克劳德创造了第一个内燃机，并将其命名为“火炬树”内燃机使用两种或多种元素通过燃烧过程产生能量。然而，在发明之后，两人都决定把他们的发动机安装在一艘船上。

Coincidentally, in the same year, a Swiss inventor named Francois Isaac de Rivaz designed and built his own version of the internal combustion engine. The main difference between Niepce’s and Rivaz’s version of the engine was that the former uses a combination of Lycopodium powder, finely crushed coal dust and resin mixed with oil, while the other used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen to produce energy.

巧合的是，同年，一位名叫弗朗索瓦·艾萨克·德里瓦兹的瑞士发明家设计并制造了他自己版本的内燃机。尼普斯和里瓦兹版本的发动机之间的主要区别是，前者使用石蜡粉、细碎煤尘和树脂混合油，而另一种使用氢气和氧气的混合物来产生能量。

Both types of engines did not enjoy a long spell of success as both models have longevity issues and power problems in longer runs.

这两种类型的发动机并没有获得长久的成功，因为这两种型号在较长时间内都存在寿命问题和功率问题。

Rise of Karl Benz and DMG

卡尔·本茨和DMG的崛起


Karl Friedrich Benz, born in 1844, Germany, was considered by many as the inventor of the modern car. In 1883 Karl Benz formed a company under the name of Benz & Cie. He built his first working motorcar, Motorwagen, in 1885-86, for which he was awarded a German patent in January 1886. Motorwagen is regarded as the first automobile which was propelled by an internal combustion engine.

卡尔·本茨出生于1844年的德国，被许多人认为是现代汽车的发明者。1883年，卡尔 · 本茨成立了一家名为奔驰的公司。1885年至1886年，他制造了自己的第一辆工作用汽车——奔驰一号，并于1886年1月获得了德国的专利。这辆车被认为是第一辆由内燃机驱动的汽车。


During the late 1880s, two other German engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach entered into the race and founded the famous Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) company in Cannstatt, Germany. A few years later, in 1894, DMG produced their first major engine, named Phoenix, with Wilhelm Maybach as the main designer. Following are the main features of the Phoenix engine:

19世纪80年代末，另外两位德国工程师戈特利布·戴姆勒和威廉·迈巴赫参加了这场竞赛，并在德国坎施塔特成立了著名的戴姆勒-奔驰(DMG)公司。几年后，在1894年，DMG制造了他们的第一台主要发动机，命名为凤凰号，威廉·迈巴赫是主要设计师。以下是菲尼克斯发动机的主要特点:

Four cylinders vertically and horizontally placed
Camshaft- operated exhaust valves
Spray –nozzle carburetor

垂直和水平放置的四个圆柱体
凸轮轴操纵的排气阀
喷嘴汽化器


Ten years later, when Gottlieb Daimler died, his partner Wilhelm Maybach continued and produced the iconic Mercedes engine after Emil Jellinek-Mercedes, in 1902. The Mercedes engine was a great success. For some time, Maybach remained as the chief designer at DMG, but he left the company in 1909 only to found Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH. Here he created the first model of Maybach W3 in 1921. He died at the age of 83 in 1929.

10年后，当戈特利布·戴姆勒去世时，他的合伙人威廉·迈巴赫继承了埃米尔·杰利内克的产品，并于1902年生产出标志性的梅赛德斯发动机。梅赛德斯的引擎非常成功。一段时间以来，迈巴赫一直担任 DMG 的首席设计师，但他在1909年离开公司，只是为了找到梅巴赫。在这里，他创造了第一个模型迈巴赫 W3在1921年。他于1929年去世，享年83岁。


Prior to that, in 1896, Karl Benz had already designed the first-ever Flat Engine called Boxermotor. It had a horizontally opposed piston, a design in which the corresponding pistons reach the top center simultaneously, thus balancing each other with momentum. The design is still used by many car manufacturers like Porsche, Subaru, and some high-performance engines, especially in racing cars.

在此之前，1896年，卡尔·本茨已经设计出了第一台名为"拳击手"的发动机。它有一个水平对置的活塞，在这种设计中，相应的活塞同时到达上止点，从而通过动量相互平衡。这种设计仍被许多汽车制造商使用，如保时捷、斯巴鲁和一些高性能发动机，尤其是在赛车中。
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The Henry Ford Era
So far, we know that Karl Benz, Wilhelm Maybach, and Daimler were great inventors; their inventions could be seen as the first big step towards modern cars. But their company only had a limited domain, mostly in Western Europe; their machines were either too expensive or not available to the common citizens.

亨利·福特时代
到目前为止，我们知道卡尔·本茨、威廉·迈巴赫和戴姆勒都是伟大的发明家;他们的发明可以被视为迈向现代汽车的第一步。但他们的公司只有一个有限的领域，主要是在西欧;他们的机器不是太贵，就是普通市民买不起。
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The founder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, was born on July 30, 1863, in Michigan, United States. He was a big supporter of mass production and is solely responsible for the transformation of the whole automobile industry. He started his career as an engineer in 1891. After several initial experiments on gasoline engines, he finally succeeded in creating a self-propelled vehicle named Ford Quadricycle.

福特汽车公司的创始人亨利·福特于1863年7月30日出生在美国密歇根州。他是大规模生产的大力支持者，并独自负责整个汽车工业的变革。他于1891年开始他的工程师生涯。在对汽油发动机进行了几次初步试验后，他终于成功地创造了一种名为福特四轮车的自行车辆。


Over several years, Ford and Harold Wills designed and ultimately built a 26-horsepower vehicle in 1901. As a result of its success, Detroit automobile Company stakeholders financed Henry Ford and created a company with Henry Ford as their chief engineer.

几年后，福特和哈罗德·威尔斯在1901年设计并最终制造了一辆26马力的汽车。由于它的成功，底特律汽车公司的股东们资助亨利·福特，并以亨利·福特为首席工程师创建了一家公司。

But in the following year, Henry Ford left the company because of some personal disputes. After his departure, the company changed its name to Cadillac Automobile Company. On June 16, 1903, Henry Ford, along with Alexander Y. Malcomson, reincorporated the Ford Motor Company.

但是第二年，亨利·福特因为一些个人纠纷离开了公司。他离职后，公司更名为凯迪拉克汽车公司。1903年6月16日，亨利·福特和亚历山大·y·马尔康森一起重组了福特汽车公司。

Ford Model T

福特T型车


The Ford Model T was introduced in October 1908. While the car specifications were highly impressive at that time, which resulted in huge popularity, Ford also introduced a whole new concept of marketing for their products. Henry Ford ensured that every newspaper carried stories and ads about his product. He built a network of local dealers who made the car a known figure in every city in North America.

福特 T 型车于1908年10月推出。虽然当时的汽车规格非常令人印象深刻，这导致了巨大的人气，福特也引入了一个全新的概念，为他们的产品营销。亨利 · 福特确保每家报纸都刊登有关他产品的报道和广告。他建立了一个当地经销商的网络，这些经销商使得这款车在北美的每一个城市都声名远扬。

He even targeted the last level of customers, who were mostly farmers. In 1913 Ford installed an assembly belt into his plants, enabling a huge increase in production. By 1918, half of all cars running on the American roads were Model T’s. As Ford wrote in his autobiography, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

他甚至瞄准了最后一级客户，他们大多是农民。1913年，福特在他的工厂里装配皮带流水线，使产量大幅增加。到1918年，美国道路上行驶的汽车中有一半是T型车。正如福特在其自传中所写，“任何客户都可以将汽车漆成他想要的任何颜色，只要它是黑色的。”

Modern/Post Modern Era
During the World Wars, many automobile companies were out of business; only a few companies were able to sustain their positions in the market. After the success of the Ford Model T, many automobile companies started following closed bodies and standardized controls. Multi-valve and overhead camshaft engines saw a huge increase in popularity. Some of the noticeable cars of 1922-1931 are Austin 7, Lancia Lambda, Bugatti Type 35, and Ford Model A.

现代/后现代
在第二次世界大战期间，许多汽车公司都倒闭了；只有少数几家公司能够维持它们在市场上的地位。在福特T型车取得成功后，许多汽车公司开始采用封闭式车身和标准化控制。多气门和顶置凸轮轴发动机的受欢迎程度大大增加。1922-1931年的一些引人注目的汽车是奥斯汀7号、兰西亚·兰布达、布加迪35型和福特A型。


After the Second World War, car design experienced a revolutionary change; a new ponton style was adopted. The first car that adopted this style was Soviet GAZ-M20 Pobeda 1946 and British Standard Vanguard 1949. In the year 1949, General Motors and Cadillac introduce a high-compression V8 engine in America.

第二次世界大战后，汽车设计经历了革命性的变化；采用了新的庞顿风格。第一辆采用这种风格的汽车是苏联GAZ-M20 波贝达1946和英国标准先锋1949。1949年，通用汽车和凯迪拉克在美国推出了高压缩V8发动机。
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GAZ-M20 波贝达

In the 1950s, as car technology rose, design became more complex and artful. American Motors introduce their new concept of compact size Rambler model. As the market mood changed in the 1960s, U.S.-based companies began facing competition from imported cars from Europe and Japan. The success of American Motors forced Ford and GM to produce compact size stylish cars, which created a whole new era. Also, the following trend brought the ‘muscle car’ era to the USA.

20世纪50年代，随着汽车技术的发展，设计变得更加复杂和巧妙。美国汽车公司推出他们的新概念小型漫步者模型。随着20世纪60年代市场气氛的改变，美国公司开始面临来自欧洲和日本进口汽车的竞争。美国汽车公司的成功迫使福特和通用生产小型时尚汽车，开创了一个全新的时代。此外，以下趋势将“肌肉车”时代带到了美国。

In the 1980s, the use of new technologically advanced equipment such as independent suspensions, improved fuel injection systems became common. NSU’s Wankel engine, the gas turbine, and the turbocharger are some of the important innovations.

在 1980 年代，使用新技术先进的设备，如独立悬架、改进的燃油喷射系统变得很普遍。 NSU 的汪克尔发动机、燃气轮机和涡轮增压器是其中一些重要的创新。

BMW and Saab were the first to introduce these innovations into their products but later saw mass-market use during the 1980s by Chrysler. Mazda focused on developing its Wankel engine, which had problems with longevity, emissions, and fuel economy.

宝马和萨博是第一个将这些创新引入其产品的公司，但后来在 1980 年代克莱斯勒在大众市场上得到了应用。 马自达专注于开发其旺克尔发动机，该发动机在寿命、排放和燃油经济性方面存在问题。


By the end of the 20th century, the U.S.A partially lost its leading position in the automobile industry. Japan became the world leader in car production while cars began to be mass-manufactured in Asia, East Europe, and other countries.

到20世纪末，美国部分失去了在汽车工业中的主导地位。日本成为汽车生产的世界领先者，而汽车开始在亚洲、东欧和其他国家大规模生产。

In the 21 century, the auto industry saw many innovative technical changes. Nowadays, there is a huge demand for standardization, platform sharing, and computer-aided design.

在21世纪，汽车工业经历了许多创新的技术变革。如今，对标准化、平台共享和计算机辅助设计的需求是巨大的。
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Body styles have also passed through a series of changes in the postmodern era. The hatchback, sedan, and sport utility design vehicles dominate today’s world market. Today, there are numerous auto companies selling their products daily: some of them have roots in the past while many are found in the recent past.

在后现代时代，车体的风格也经历了一系列的变化。掀背车、轿车和运动型多功能车主导着当今的世界市场。今天，有许多汽车公司每天都在销售他们的产品：其中一些公司起源于过去，而许多是在最近才出现的。