Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

An electric car charging station at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This station is run by Petrobras and uses solar energy.

A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people, not cargo.

The French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769, while the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed and constructed the first internal combustion-powered automobile in 1808. The modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use—was invented in 1886, when the German inventor Carl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Commercial cars became widely available during the 20th century. One of the first cars affordable by the masses was the Ford Model T, begun in 1908, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the US, where they replaced horse-drawn carriages. In Europe and other parts of the world, demand for automobiles did not increase until after World War II. The car is considered an essential part of the developed economy.

Cars have controls for driving, parking, passenger comfort, and a variety of lamps. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, making them progressively more complex. These include rear-reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in-car entertainment. Most cars in use in the early 2020s are propelled by an internal combustion engine, fueled by the combustion of fossil fuels. Electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, became commercially available in the 2000s and are predicted to cost less to buy than petrol-driven cars before 2025. The transition from fossil fuel-powered cars to electric cars features prominently in most climate change mitigation scenarios, such as Project Drawdown's 100 actionable solutions for climate change. (Full article...)

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Lexus LS 500

The Lexus LS (Japanese: レクサス・LS, Hepburn: Rekusasu LS) is a full-size luxury sedan (F-segment in Europe) serving as the flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota. For the first four generations, all LS models featured V8 engines and were predominantly rear-wheel-drive. In the fourth generation, Lexus offered all-wheel-drive, hybrid, and long-wheelbase variants. The fifth generation changed to using a V6 engine with no V8 option, and only one length was offered.

As the first model developed by Lexus, the LS 400 debuted in January 1989 with the second generation debuting in November 1994. The LS 430 debuted in January 2000 and the LS 460/LS 460 L series in 2006. A domestic-market version of the LS 400 and LS 430, badged as Toyota Celsior (Japanese: トヨタ・セルシオ, Hepburn: Toyota Serushio), was sold in Japan until the Lexus marque was introduced there in 2006. In 2006 (for the 2007 model year), the fourth generation LS 460 debuted the first production eight-speed automatic transmission and an automatic parking system. In 2007, V8 hybrid powertrains were introduced on the LS 600h/LS 600h L sedans. (Full article...)

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2017 Toyota Camry sedan

A sedan or saloon (British English) is a passenger car in a three-box configuration with separate compartments for an engine, passengers, and cargo. The first recorded use of sedan in reference to an automobile body occurred in 1912. The name derives from the 17th-century litter known as a sedan chair, a one-person enclosed box with windows and carried by porters. Variations of the sedan style include the close-coupled sedan, club sedan, convertible sedan, fastback sedan, hardtop sedan, notchback sedan, and sedanet. (Full article...)

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Toyota Camry

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Ghosn in 2010

Carlos Ghosn (/ɡoʊn/; French: [kaʁlɔs ɡon]; Arabic: كارلوس غصن; Lebanese Arabic pronunciation: ['kaːrlos 'ɣosˤn], born 9 March 1954) is a businessman and former automotive executive, widely known for having dramatically fled house arrest in 2019 in Japan, while awaiting trial on financial impropriety charges related to his tenure at Nissan.

Ghosn served as CEO of Michelin North America, chairman and CEO of Renault, chairman of AvtoVAZ, chairman and CEO of Nissan, and chairman of Mitsubishi Motors. (Full article...)

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On this day June 23

1902 — "Mercedes" is registered as a brand name by Daimler

1991 — The Mazda 787B becomes the first Japanese and Wankel engined vehicle to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans

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Did you know...

...that the racing version of the Dauer 962 Le Mans, winner of 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans, is a roadcar converted from a Porsche 962 racecar, which dominated Le Mans, Group C and IMSA during the 1980s.
...that the 25 Millionth VW Golf rolled off the production line in Wolfsburg in March 2007. The first Golf started production in 1974, 33 years later the 1.4 litre TSI version became the 25 Millionth car.
...that the nearly identical Ford Model T engines were produced for exactly 12,000 days
...that the first production turbocharged cars were General Motors' A-body 1962 Chevrolet Corvair and Oldsmobile F-85?
...that Jeep introduced the 1993 Grand Cherokee and 2007 Wrangler in the same way — by driving them through a plate glass window?
...that a small number of Renault 20s, badged as Dacia 2000, were made in the 1980s by Dacia in Romania for Romanian communist dignitaries of that time?
...that the Autobianchi Primula was the Fiat's first automobile with the front-wheel drive, transverse engine setup and rack and pinion steering?
...that the Plymouth Sundance is a liftback, even though the outside appearance might suggest that it is a sedan?

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Selected quote of the day

Things just didn't work out

—Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen, explaining his dismissal as president of the Ford Motor Company after just one year on the job

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General images

The following are images from various car-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 11924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 2Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 3In the Ford Model T the left-side hand lever sets the rear wheel parking brakes and puts the transmission in neutral. The lever to the right controls the throttle. The lever on the left of the steering column is for ignition timing. The left foot pedal changes the two forward gears while the centre pedal controls reverse. The right pedal is the brake. (from Car)
Image 4A Stanley Steamer racecar in 1903. In 1906, a similar Stanley Rocket set the world land speed record at 205.5 km/h (127.7 mph) at Daytona Beach Road Course. (from History of the automobile)
Image 5The weight of the low battery stabilises the car. This is a dual-motor, four-wheel-drive layout but many cars only have one motor. (from Car)
Image 6Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 72011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 8Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 91946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 10The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 11The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 12Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 13Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 14Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 15Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 16Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 171959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 18Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 19Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 20Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 21The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 22A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 231958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 24Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 25Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 26Stuttgart, a cradle of the car with Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach working there at the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and place of the modern day headquarters of Mercedes-Benz Group and Porsche (from Car)
Image 27The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 28A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 291885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 301929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 311926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 32The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 33Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 34A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 35Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 36The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 37A Tesla Model Y electric car, the world's best-selling car in the first and second quarters of 2023. (from History of the automobile)
Image 38Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 39Trucks' share of US vehicles produced, has tripled since 1975. Though vehicle fuel efficiency has increased within each category, the overall trend toward less efficient types of vehicles has offset some of the benefits of greater fuel economy and reductions in pollution and carbon dioxide emissions. Without the shift towards SUVs, energy use per unit distance could have fallen 30% more than it did from 2010 to 2022. (from Car)
Image 40The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 41The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 42The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 43The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 44Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 45The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 46A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 471929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 481974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 49Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 501954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)