Charles King of Detroit is the first person to test drive a gasoline-powered automobile in Michigan. Three months later, also in Detroit, Henry Ford drives his gasoline-powered, two-cylinder quadricycle. But it is Ransom E. Olds of Lansing who starts Michigan's first auto company. Like King and Ford, Olds develops a gasoline-powered engine. In 1900, after setbacks, Olds opens the nation's first factory designed specifically for auto production. The following year he begins producing the Curved-dash Runabout, which has a one-cylinder engine and is lightweight and inexpensive. By 1905 the Olds Motor Works is producing 6,500 cars annually. Ford, credited with perfecting modern mass production, begins manufacturing autos in 1903. In 1908 he introduces the Model T. Five years later, he is producing 250,000 Model Ts annually. In 1908, William Durant, a successful Flint carriage maker, organizes the General Motors Company. Unlike Ford, whose strategy was to manufacture only one model of car, Durant merges several existing auto companies to offer a diversity of models. The availability of raw materials, markets and investment capital, as well as men like Olds, Ford and Durant, will make Michigan the auto capital of the world. By 1914, 78 percent of the nation's automobiles will be produced in Michigan.

Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries
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