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.

Exterior of the Piquette Avenue Plant

The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former factory located within the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant. At the Piquette Avenue Plant, the company created and first produced the Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the United States. Prior to the Model T, several other car models were assembled at the factory. Early experiments using a moving assembly line to make cars were also conducted there. It was also the first factory where more than 100 cars were assembled in one day. While it was headquartered at the Piquette Avenue Plant, Ford Motor Company became the biggest U.S.-based automaker, and it would remain so until the mid-1920s. The factory was used by the company until 1910, when its car production activity was relocated to the new, bigger Highland Park Ford Plant.

Studebaker bought the factory in 1911, using it to assemble cars until 1933. The building was sold in 1936, going through a series of owners for the rest of the 20th century before becoming a museum in 2001. The Piquette Avenue Plant is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public. The museum, which was visited by over 31,000 people in 2018, has exhibits that primarily focus on the beginning of the United States automotive industry. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, became a Michigan State Historic Site in 2003, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. (Full article...)

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BMW Headquarters in Munich, Germany

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, commonly abbreviated to BMW (German pronunciation: [ˌbeːʔɛmˈveː] ^ⓘ), is a German multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. The company was founded in 1916 as a manufacturer of aircraft engines, which it produced from 1917 to 1918 and again from 1933 to 1945 creating engines for aircraft that were used in the Second World War.

Automobiles are marketed under the brands BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce, and motorcycles are marketed under the brand BMW Motorrad. In 2017, BMW was the world's fourteenth-largest producer of motor vehicles, with 2,279,503 vehicles produced and in 2022 the 7th largest by revenue. In 2023, the company was ranked 46th in the Forbes Global 2000. The company has significant motor-sport history, especially in touring cars, sports cars, and the Isle of Man TT. (Full article...)

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Lancia Delta

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Münter in 2014 at Chicagoland Speedway

Leilani Maaja Münter (born February 18, 1974) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and environmental activist. She last competed in the ARCA Menards Series, and previously drove in the Firestone Indy Lights, the development league of IndyCar. (Full article...)

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On this day May 14

1991 — The 21,751st and final Buick Reatta is produced

2007 — DaimlerChrysler sells its stake in Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management

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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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If you stop a block of clay long enough in a design studio, someone will drop a 3.8 in it.

—Former Oldsmobile General Manager John Rock explaining why he wanted Olds to have its own 3.5 L DOHC V6 instead of relying on the ubiquitous Buick V6

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General images

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

Image 1The 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 2The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 3The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 4Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 5Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 6A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 7Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 81954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 9Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 10A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 11A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 121974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 13A 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 141946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 151958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 16The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 17Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 18Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 191959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 20Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 211926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 22Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 23The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 24A 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 25The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 26Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 27A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 282011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 29The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 301929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 31Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 32Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 331924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 34The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 351929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 36The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 37In 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 38Trucks' 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 39Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 40Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 41Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 42Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (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 44Scaled model of the second Marcus car of 1875 (from History of the automobile)
Image 45Stuttgart, 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 46Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 47The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 481885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 49The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 50Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)