1. Plastics and automobiles: a long history

1.1 Automotive history

First introduced in the 1890s (see 1 and 2 ), the automobile underwent a number of major developments in its first few decades, quickly giving it a number of characteristics that are still evident today.

However, from 1886 to 1908, the automobile remained a rather luxurious product, produced in small quantities using methods copied from those used to manufacture horse-drawn vehicles. Mass production began in the United States in 1908, with the launch of a model whose name has gone down in history: the Ford T.

During the first decade of the twentieth century, automakers progressively demanded...