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 over 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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2017 Holden Commodore SV6 sedan (VFII)

The Holden Commodore is a series of automobiles that were sold by former Australian manufacturer Holden from 1978 to 2020. They were manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia ending on 20 October 2017.

The first three generations of Holden produced Commodores (1978–2006) were based on the Opel designed V-body rear-wheel drive automotive platform, which was the basis of GM's largest European models, but were structurally strengthened, mechanically modified, and, in time, enlarged by Holden for Australian road conditions, production needs, and market demands. The styling of these cars was generally similar to that of the Opel Commodore C, and later, the Opel Omega A/B and their Vauxhall sister models the Vauxhall Carlton and Omega . (Full article...)

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Trabant (German: [tʁaˈbant] ^ⓘ) is a series of small cars produced from 1957 until 1991 by former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Four models were made: the Trabant 500, Trabant 600, Trabant 601, and the Trabant 1.1. The first model, the 500, was a relatively modern car when it was introduced.

It featured detachable duroplast body panels on a galvanised steel unibody chassis, front-wheel drive, a transverse two-stroke engine, and independent suspension. Because this 1950s design remained largely unchanged until the introduction of the last model, the Trabant 1.1 in 1990, the Trabant became symbolic of the former East Germany's stagnant economy and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in general. Called "a spark plug with a roof", 3,096,999 Trabants were produced. Older models have been sought by collectors in the United States due to their low cost and fewer restrictions on the importation of antique cars. The Trabant also gained a following among car tuning and rallying enthusiasts. (Full article...)

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Mercedes-Benz C 180 Cabriolet

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Kenichi Yamamoto (山本健一, Yamamoto Kenichi, 16 September 1922 – 20 December 2017) was a Japanese mechanical engineer and business executive. He supervised the development of the Mazda Wankel rotary combustion engine, and served as Mazda's President (1984–1987) and Chairman (1987–1992). (Full article...)

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On this day July 1

1992 — Ford Motor Company completes its acquisition of 50% of AutoAlliance International from Mazda and takes over operations of the plant.

1997 — The Lincoln Navigator luxury SUV is introduced

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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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When you drive from Melbourne to Broken Hill, as I did recently, you find you want to do it in a bigger, more comfortable car. If consumers bought what they wanted to buy there would always be (plenty) who would buy a full-size car.

—Denny Mooney

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General images

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

Image 1Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 2Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 3The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 4The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 5Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 61946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 7The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 8Stuttgart, 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 9Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 101924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 11A 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 12The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 13The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 14The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 15A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 16Trucks' 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 171929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 18A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 19Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 20The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 21Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 22The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 232011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 241959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 25The 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 261954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 27Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 28Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 29Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 30Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 31A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 32A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 33Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 34Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 35The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 36The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 371885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 381926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 391929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 40In 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 41Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 42The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 43Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 441974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 45A 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 461958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 47Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 48Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 49Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 50Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)