A hundred years ago, automobiles were a new and fairly untested idea, so why would someone buy a car when they had a perfectly good horse, which was safer? Enter the marketing department.
While the poor horses got slandered, there were definite advantages to driving cars, especially in cities. Car manufacturers didn’t have to be so nasty about it, but even when they’re right, business trumps the common good. The campaign against the horse wasn’t nearly as bad as the battle against pedestrians or the campaign to design American infrastructure around the automobile. -Thanks, Phil Edwards!
Newest 1 Comment
Car makers did not invent the term horsepower (at 1:07). James Watt coined the term in the late 1700s.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)