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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The Toyota Aurion (XV40) /ˈɔːriən/ is the original series of the Toyota Aurion, a mid-size car produced by Toyota in Australia and parts of Asia. Designated "XV40", Toyota manufactured the first generation Aurion between 2006 and 2012 until it was fully replaced by the XV50 series. While Asian production of the XV50 series began in late 2011, Toyota's Australian operations did not take on production of the new model until 2012.

Although marketed as a separate model, the XV40 series Aurion is essentially a Toyota Camry (XV40) with revised front- and rear-end treatment, along with changes to the interior and Australian tuned suspension. In lieu of the "Aurion" nameplate, the majority of East and Southeast Asian markets received the Camry-based Aurion under the name Toyota Camry. However, in Australasia and the Middle East, Toyota sold the original version of the Camry alongside the Aurion. In these markets, the Aurion replaced the Avalon (XX10) model, which could trace its roots back to 1994 in North America. (Full article...)

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The Targa Florio was a public road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near the island's capital of Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973. While the first races consisted of a whole tour of the island, the track length in the race's last decades was limited to the 72 km (45 mi) of the Circuito Piccolo delle Madonie, which was lapped 11 times.

After 1973, it was a national sports car event until it was discontinued in 1977 due to safety concerns. It has since been run as Targa Florio Rally, a rallying event, and is part of the Italian Rally Championship. (Full article...)

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Takeo Fujisawa (藤沢武夫, Fujisawa Takeo, November 10, 1910 – December 30, 1988) was a Japanese businessman who co-founded Honda Motor Co., Ltd. alongside Soichiro Honda. Fujisawa oversaw the financial side of the company while Honda handled the engineering and product development. Together, they took the company from a small manufacturer of bicycle engines to a worldwide car manufacturer. (Full article...)

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On this day May 31

1919 — General Motors purchases the Frigidaire company at the urging of GM president and Frigidaire investor, William Crapo Durant

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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

Those of us who move will die. Those who don't are already dead.

—Jean Behra, 1950s Formula One racing driver, on continuing to race while knowing the risks

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General images

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

Image 1The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 21885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 32011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 41959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 5A 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 6Stuttgart, 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 7A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 8The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 91929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 10The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 11Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 12Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 13The 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 14Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 15Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 16Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 17Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 181974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 19The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 20Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 21In 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 221924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 23Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 24Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 25Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 26Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 271954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 28Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 29Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 301958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 31The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 32Scaled model of the second Marcus car of 1875 (from History of the automobile)
Image 33A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 34The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 35A 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 36Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 37Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 38The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 391946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 40The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 41A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 42The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 431929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 44Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 45Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 461926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 47A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 48Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 49The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 50Trucks' 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)