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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Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Reynolds headquarters in Dayton, Ohio

The Reynolds and Reynolds Company is a private corporation based in Dayton, Ohio. Its primary business is providing business forms, management software and professional services to car dealerships. Its software is used to manage sales logistics at dealerships. It also produces forms used in medicine and insurance.

Reynolds and Reynolds was founded in 1866 as a printer of standardized business forms. It began developing and marketing digital products in the 1960s. This was followed by a major downsizing of the printing division and subsequent advancements in its software products. By the 1980s, Reynolds and Reynolds had won contracts with all of the Big Three automotive manufacturers, as well as some insurance businesses. The company went public in 1961, but was re-formed as a private company in 2006, when it was merged with Universal Computer Systems, resulting in a culture clash between the two companies. (Full article...)

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The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, repairing, and modification of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16% such as in France up to 40% to countries like Slovakia).

The word automotive comes from the Greek autos (self), and Latin motivus (of motion), referring to any form of self-powered vehicle. This term, as proposed by Elmer Sperry^{[need quotation to verify]} (1860–1930), first came into use to describe automobiles in 1898. (Full article...)

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Kjell Qvale (July 7, 1919 – November 2, 2013) was a Norwegian-American business executive. Qvale was one of the key figures in the creation of the Jensen-Healey. Qvale became the first distributor for Jaguar on the West Coast. Qvale was one of the founders of the San Francisco Auto Show and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. He was credited with the concept of the Corkscrew signature corner of Laguna Seca. (Full article...)

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On this day June 16

1903 — The Ford Motor Company is founded

1924 — The 10 millionth Ford Model T sets out on a cross-country trip from New York City to San Francisco

1992 — Toyota Motor Corporation announces their forthcoming larger pickup truck, the first foray into the full-sized pickup truck market by a Japanese company.

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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

The public don't know what they want; it's my job to tell them.

—Alec Issigonis

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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 2In 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 3A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 4Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 5Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 61974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 7The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 8Trucks' 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 9The 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 101929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 11The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 121929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 131924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 14A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 15Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 16Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 17Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 18Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 19Stuttgart, 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 20The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 212011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 22A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 23Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 24Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 251958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 26A 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 27Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 28Scaled model of the second Marcus car of 1875 (from History of the automobile)
Image 29Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 30The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 31Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 32The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 33A 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 34Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 351926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 36The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (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 38Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 39The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 401954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 411946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 42A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 43The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 44Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 45Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 46Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 47The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 48Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 49The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 501959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)