Don’t Miss on Arte: “A Brief History of the Automobile”

In three parts, this Arte documentary series traces nearly a century and a half of automotive history, from the first prototypes to autonomous vehicles.

Automobiles are not just a simple means of transport; they are the beating pulse of our societies, influencing our mobility, resources, and urban planning. This series from 2022, rebroadcast tonight Tuesday, January 14, 2025 and available on Arte’s platform, is a true fireworks display of emotions that helps us decode the past to better anticipate the future.

The history of the automobile is inseparable from that of capitalism, having transformed our lifestyles, dreams, work, and reshaped our cities and countryside. Rich in archives, this series takes us through the 20th century with a sharp perspective on this object with a thousand faces, now at the heart of a global ecological and civilizational crisis.

In 1889, at the Universal Exposition in Paris, German engineer Carl Benz presents an invention that will change the world: the motorized tricycle. Eleven years later, the same event in Paris sees 80 car manufacturers, marking the beginning of the end for the reign of horse-drawn carriages. This vehicle, a symbol of human genius, quickly becomes a mass product, concentrating the most advanced technologies and exploiting colonial resources. France, initially a leader, was quickly overtaken by the United States in 1907, where Detroit became the cradle of assembly line work thanks to Ford. After World War I, the car established itself as a major actor in public space, despite protests against numerous fatal accidents, giving rise to a powerful automotive lobby.

Between reason and passion

Symbol of a frenetic race toward progress, emblem of consumer society, the automobile quickly becomes the engine of the world, but it now finds itself at the center of an unprecedented ecological and civilizational crisis. Fordism, privatization of public space, pollution, but also access to isolation, freedom of movement, economic development, and improved living comfort… Its impact on our lives is immense and complex.

Jean-Christophe Ribot, with this captivating documentary series, uses an abundance of archives to offer a rich and nuanced perspective on the history of the automobile. Through inventors, factories, and legendary models, the entire story of the 20th century unfolds before our eyes. From incursions into the USSR or Mao’s China to iconic advertising campaigns, from legendary Grand Prix races to shocking lobby videos, this series makes us vibrate, marvel, and question the paradoxes of our frenetic development.

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