Part 3/15:
Ford's core innovation was the moving assembly line, which reduced the time to assemble a Model T from 12 hours to just 93 minutes, slashing its cost by 70%. By 1924, the price dropped to $260, making cars affordable for the masses. This price decline spurred exponential growth: from 200,000 cars nationwide in 1908 to 15 million by 1927.
This democratization of mobility didn’t just replace horses; it reshaped society—suburbanization, road trips, drive-in restaurants, and new lifestyles flourished as transportation costs shrank. This pattern—where reducing costs leads to exponential increases in usage—is known as Jevons Paradox: efficiency improvements often trigger a surge in demand.