Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

The Ford Model T, produced from 1908 to 1927, is widely credited with being the first mass-affordable automobile, and it remains one of the best-selling cars of all time.

A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat 1–8 people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are over 1.6 billion cars in use worldwide as of 2025^[update].

The French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the first steam-powered road vehicle in 1769, and 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. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved Dash and the 1908 Ford Model T, both American cars, are widely considered the first mass-produced and mass-affordable cars, respectively. 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. In the 21st century, car usage is still increasing rapidly, especially in China, India, and other newly industrialised countries.

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 seat belts, airbags, 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 widespread in the 2020s. (Full article...)

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Talbot Tagora 2.2 saloon

The Talbot Tagora is an executive car developed by Chrysler Europe and produced by Peugeot Société Anonyme (PSA). The Tagora was marketed under the Talbot marque after PSA took over Chrysler's European operations in 1979. PSA presented the first production vehicle in 1980 and launched it commercially in 1981. The Tagora fell short of sales expectations, described as a "showroom flop" just a year after its launch, and PSA cancelled the model two years later. Fewer than 20,000 Tagora models were built, all of them at the former Simca factory in Poissy, near Paris, France. (Full article...)

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1959 BMC ADO15 (first one built)

The Mini is a two-door, four-seat small car produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally (briefly) under BMW ownership. Minis were built as saloons, estates, convertibles, and various other body styles. Minus a brief 1990s hiatus, from 1959 into 2000, an estimated 5.38 million of all variations combined were built.

Initially, the Mini was marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor; the Austin Seven was renamed Austin Mini in 1962 and Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969. Retrospectively, the car is known as the "Classic Mini" to distinguish it from the modern MINI family of vehicles produced since 2001 by German carmaker BMW, who took ownership of the Mini name following the sale of Rover Group in 2000. (Full article...)

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2005 Mercedes-Benz S350

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Bertha Ringer, c. 1871, prior to her marriage to Carl Benz

Bertha Benz (German: [ˈbɛʁta ˈbɛnts] ^ⓘ; née Cäcilie Bertha Ringer; 3 May 1849 – 5 May 1944) was a German automotive pioneer. She was the business partner, investor and wife of automobile inventor Carl Benz. On 5 August 1888, she became the first person to drive an internal-combustion-engined automobile over a long distance, field testing the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, inventing brake lining and solving several practical issues during the journey of 105 km (65 miles). In doing so, she brought the Patent-Motorwagen worldwide attention and got the company its first general sales. Bertha Benz was not allowed to study in the Grand Duchy of Baden, and her financial and practical engineering contributions have long been overlooked until the 21st century. (Full article...)

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On this day October 7

1913 — Ford Motor Company's Highland Park Assembly plant begins production on the first moving assembly line.

2004 — Honda introduces the fourth-generation Legend/Acura RL in Japan

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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 2011 Ford Crown Victoria was the last car to offer a cassette tape player as an option?
...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?
...that the name Volvo really means 'I Roll?' That's how Volvo rolls.

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The Aston Martin DB9 is the car that I'd be most likely to sell my children into slavery for.

—Jeremy Clarkson

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General images

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

Image 1Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 2Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 3The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 4The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 5Carl Benz, creator of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, considered by many as the first modern car. (from History of the automobile)
Image 61946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with a pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 71987 Renault Espace (from History of the automobile)
Image 8A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 9Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 10The 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 112011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 12Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 131974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 14The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 15Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 16The first production car: 1888 Benz Patent-Motorwagen Model 2 on loan from Science Museum, London to Automuseum Dr Carl Benz, Ladenburg, 2014 (from Car)
Image 17Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 181959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 19Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 201982 Toyota Camry (from History of the automobile)
Image 21Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 221929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 23Percentage-of-total-sales figures for electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid vehicles approximately quadrupled from 2020 to 2026. (from History of the automobile)
Image 241955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible (from History of the automobile)
Image 25The first practical car, Carl Benz's Patent-Motorwagen Nr. 2 of 1886 (image from 1888) (from Car)
Image 26Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 27A Tesla Model Y electric car, the world's best-selling electric car, and the best selling nameplate in 2023. (from History of the automobile)
Image 28Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 29A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 30A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 31A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 32The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 33The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 34The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 35Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 36The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 371926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 38Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 39In 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 40Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 41The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 421929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 43Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 44The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 451924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 46Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 47Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 48A 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)