Purchasing a car is one of the biggest and most important decisions someone will make in their lifetime. Vehicle prices have increased significantly in recent years due to rising inflation. Economists compare vehicle averages to calculate and determine the cost of each vehicle that ends up on the lot. To determine the cost they interpret all of the above information and include everything from the cost of making the vehicle to the time of sale. In the long term, the demand for vehicles is inelastic because they become a necessity for many people. However, in the short run, demand is elastic because the purchase of a new vehicle can be postponed for a while. After the creation of the steam engine in the early 17th century, many people and companies attempted to take the same technology and apply it to automobiles. None were successful until a British inventor named Richard Trevithick created a multi-passenger automobile that ran on a high-pressure steam-driven piston-driven power source (Bellis). Until the mid-1900s, cars were only produced by specially specialized blacksmiths and were very expensive. Only about 4,000 automobiles were produced from 1890 to the mid-1900s (Bellis). In the 1920s the US economy was booming and along came a famous man, along the lines of Henry Ford, who had an idea to change the industry. He created the first style of production line for producing automobiles. Each assembly line worker had one or two specific tasks to complete on passing cars. The process began with a skeleton on the car, and as it progressed down the line from worker to worker, it slowly gained more and more pieces finishing the automobile completely... middle of paper... yourself, you will they trade their "gas guzzlers" for more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly cars. Works cited “Industry Facts.” AAPC. Np, nd Web. April 08, 2014."Auto Economics." Automotive Alliance. Np, nd Web. 08 Apr. 2014. “Automotive Industry.” International encyclopedia of the social sciences. 2008, Ed Dinger, “Automobile Industry.” Dictionary of American History. 2003, "Automobile Industry". Gale Encyclopedia of US, "United Automobile Workers of America." Dictionary of American History. 2003, "Automobile Industry". The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition, 2013, and “United Auto Workers.” Gale Encyclopedia of the US "Automobile Industry". Enciclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 January 2008. Web. 10 April 2014. Bellis, Maria. "Automobile History: The History of Cars and Engines." About.com Inventors. About.com, March 5, 2014. Web. April 10. 2014.