Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

Toyota Corolla is considered to be the best-selling car 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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Ford Pinto

The Ford Pinto is a subcompact car that was manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company in North America from 1970 until 1980. The Pinto was the first subcompact vehicle produced by Ford in North America.

The Pinto was marketed in three body styles across its production: a two-door fastback sedan with a trunk, a three-door hatchback, and a two-door station wagon. Mercury offered rebadged versions of the Pinto as the Mercury Bobcat from 1975 until 1980 (1974–1980 in Canada). (Full article...)

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2010 Ford Taurus Limited

The Ford Taurus is an automobile that was manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company in the United States from 1985 to 2019. From 1985 to 2009, Ford marketed the Taurus alongside its rebadged variant, the Mercury Sable. Four generations of the high-performance version (named the Ford Taurus SHO) were also manufactured from 1988 to 1999 and 2009 to 2019.

The original Taurus was a milestone for Ford and the American automotive industry, as the first automobile at Ford designed and manufactured using the statistical process control ideas brought to Ford by W. Edwards Deming, a prominent statistician consulted by Ford to bring a "culture of quality" to the enterprise. The Taurus had an influential design that introduced new features and innovations. (Full article...)

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2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring

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Ferruccio Lamborghini Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (/ˌlæmbərˈɡiːni/ LAM-bər-GHEE-nee, Italian: [ferˈruttʃo lamborˈɡiːni]; 28 April 1916 – 20 February 1993) was an Italian automobile designer and industrialist who created Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and Automobili Lamborghini in 1963, a maker of high-end sports cars in Sant'Agata Bolognese.

Born to grape farmers in Renazzo, within the municipality of Cento in the Emilia-Romagna region, his mechanical know-how led him to enter the business of tractor manufacturing in 1948, when he founded Lamborghini Trattori, which quickly became an important manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the midst of Italy's post-WWII economic boom. In 1959, he opened an oil burner factory, Lamborghini Bruciatori, which later entered the business of producing air conditioning equipment. (Full article...)

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On this day September 19

1909 — Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche is born

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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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My car is just all ate up with motor

—Darrell Waltrip, explaining his NASCAR success in 1977

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General images

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

Image 1The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 2The Ford Model T (1908–1927) is credited with being the first mass-affordable automobile and one of the most produced cars in history. (from Car)
Image 3Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 4Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 5Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 6Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 7Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 82011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 9Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 10Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 111929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 12In 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 13Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 14Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 15Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 16The 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 17The first practical car, Carl Benz's Patent-Motorwagen Nr. 2 of 1886 (image from 1888) (from Car)
Image 181959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 19A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 201955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible (from History of the automobile)
Image 21A 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 22Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 23Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 24The 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 25The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 261982 Toyota Camry (from History of the automobile)
Image 271929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 28The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 29A 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 30Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 31Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 32The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 331946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with a pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 34Percentage-of-total-sales figures for electric, plug-in hybrid, and hybrid vehicles approximately quadrupled from 2020 to 2026. (from History of the automobile)
Image 351987 Renault Espace (from History of the automobile)
Image 36Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 371926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 38A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 39The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 40A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 41A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 42Carl Benz, creator of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, considered by many as the first modern car. (from History of the automobile)
Image 431974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 44The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 45The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 461924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 47Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 48The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 49The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)