L'automobile, reine du monde

The Car, Queen of the World
In this forum “Futurs of the Past”, Futuribles reproduces old texts which have proven themselves especially premonitory, or, by passing the test of time, help us to better understand the present.
We reproduce here an article written by the marquis de Dion, published on March 15, 1906 in the magazine Je sais tout which, quite aware of the importance of it, introduced the text in this way: “Nobody can doubt the enormous growth that the car will sustain in the years to come. The marquis de Dion, the eminent promoter of this admirable industry, has been good enough to share with us his views on its future universal prosperity.”
The car was, in those days, quite rare and its future was the object of acrimonious debates. As far as the marquis de Dion was concerned, however, its success was assured: by 1930 would have become accessible to those of even modest incomes.