<P> Innovation was not limited to the vehicles themselves, either . Increasing numbers of cars propelled the growth of the petroleum industry, as well as the development of technology to produce gasoline (replacing kerosene and coal oil) and of improvements in heat - tolerant mineral oil lubricants (replacing vegetable and animal oils). </P> <P> There were social effects, also . Music would be made about cars, such as "In My Merry Oldsmobile" (a tradition that continues) while, in 1896, William Jennings Bryan would be the first presidential candidate to campaign in a car (a donated Mueller), in Decatur, Illinois . Three years later, Jacob German would start a tradition for New York City cabdrivers when he sped down Lexington Avenue, at the "reckless" speed of 12 mph (19 km / h). Also in 1899, Akron, Ohio, adopted the first self - propelled paddy wagon . </P> <P> By 1900, the early centers of national automotive industry developed in many countries, including Belgium (home to Vincke, which copied Benz; Germain, a pseudo-Panhard; and Linon and Nagant, both based on the Gobron - Brillié), Switzerland (led by Fritz Henriod, Rudolf Egg, Saurer, Johann Weber, and Lorenz Popp), Vagnfabrik AB in Sweden, Hammel (by A.F. Hammel and H.U. Johansen at Copenhagen, in Denmark, which only built one car, ca . 1886), Irgens (starting in Bergen, Norway, in 1883, but without success), Italy (where FIAT started in 1899), and as far afield as Australia (where Pioneer set up shop in 1898, with an already archaic paraffin - fuelled centre - pivot - steered wagon). Meanwhile, the export trade had begun, with Koch exporting cars and trucks from Paris to Tunisia, Egypt, Iran, and the Dutch East Indies . The Studebaker brothers, having become the world's leading manufacturers of horse - drawn vehicles, made a transition to electric automobiles in 1902, and gasoline engines in 1904, but also continued to build horse - drawn vehicles until 1919 . </P> <P> In 1908, the first South American automobile was built in Peru, the Grieve . Motor cars were also exported very early to British colonies and the first motor car was exported to India in 1897 . </P>

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