Air conditioning, how would you do without it? Today, around nine out of ten cars are equipped with it. In 2003, three out of four cars in Europe.
It took us a long time to arrive at this generalization, because the first air conditioning in France dates from the 1970s. But this air conditioning, where does it come from?
Like most of the comfort items, from the United States. It was even invented before World War II; in 1933 to be precise.
Here is his story.
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In 1933, in the Big Apple …
In 1933, a New York company made a name for itself with a newspaper article in “Popular Science” for the invention of the first car with air conditioning.
The inventors estimate that the equipment will arrive in series in the near future. It would still be necessary to wait until 1938 when Nash Motors, which had partnered with Kelvinator (the champion of the refrigerator), offered air conditioning as an option on its models.
Then, in 1939, Packard also offered it as an option at a price of $ 274 (€ 4,500 today).
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Development in the 1950s
The 1953 Chrysler Imperial was the first production car to feature automotive air conditioning. A luxury vehicle that uses a process (Airtemp) derived from the air conditioning of the Chrysler building.
In 1960 in the United States, 20% of cars were equipped. And in the 1980s, 9 out of 10 cars.
In Europe at the same time, only BMW, Jaguar, Mercedes or Rolls Royce equipped some cars, that is to say a few percent. In France, we waited until 1990 to benefit from a regulated air conditioning system with electronic management.
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