David Fickling, Columnist

America Got the World Driving. Now It’s Going Home

Detroit’s car industry is turning inward and China will inherit the Earth.

November 17, 2024 at 7:00 PM UTC

David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering climate change and energy. Previously, he worked for Bloomberg News, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.

Beep, beep. Not many Chinese are jumping into GM’s Cadillac.
Photographer: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

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Germany’s Carl Benz might have invented the automobile, but it’s the United States that got us to drive them.

The relentless export of American cars and car culture put the world on the road in the 20th century. By the 1960s, Ford Motor Co. had plants in almost every major European country, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, India, Israel, Peru, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.