Portal:Cars

The Cars Portal

The Toyota Corolla, which has been in production since 1966, is the best-selling series of automobile 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 one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billion cars in use worldwide.

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. 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 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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Lexus LS 500

The Lexus LS (Japanese: レクサス・LS, Hepburn: Rekusasu LS) is a series of full-size luxury sedans that have served as the flagship model of Lexus, the luxury division of Toyota, since 1989. For the first four generations, all LS models featured V8 engines and were predominantly rear-wheel-drive. In the fourth generation, Lexus offered all-wheel-drive, hybrid, and long-wheelbase variants. The fifth generation changed to using a V6 engine with no V8 option, and only one length was offered.

As the first model developed by Lexus, the LS 400 debuted in January 1989 with the second generation debuting in November 1994. The LS 430 debuted in January 2000 and the LS 460/LS 460 L series in 2006. A domestic-market version of the LS 400 and LS 430, badged as Toyota Celsior (Japanese: トヨタ・セルシオ, Hepburn: Toyota Serushio), was sold in Japan until the Lexus marque was introduced there in 2006. In 2006 (for the 2007 model year), the fourth generation LS 460 debuted the first production eight-speed automatic transmission and an automatic parking system. In 2007, V8 hybrid powertrains were introduced on the LS 600h/LS 600h L sedans. (Full article...)

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Honda Motor Co., Ltd., commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a production of 500 million as of May 2025^[update]. It is also the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by number of units, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. Honda became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001. In 2015, Honda was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. The company has also built and sold the most produced motor vehicle in history, the Honda Super Cub. (Full article...)

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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, soldier, inventor, mechanic, engineer, winemaker, industrialist, and businessman who created Lamborghini Trattori in 1948 and the Automobili Lamborghini in 1963, a maker of high-end sports cars in Sant'Agata Bolognese.

Born to grape farmers in Renazzo, from the comune (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 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 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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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 1Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 21955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible (from History of the automobile)
Image 3Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 4The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 5The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 6A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 7The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 8Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 9Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 101885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 111924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 12Stuttgart, 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 13Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 14The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (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 161946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with a pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 17In 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 18The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 19A 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 20The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 21Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 22A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 231926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 24The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 25Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 262011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 271982 Toyota Camry (from History of the automobile)
Image 28Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 29The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 301929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 31Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 32Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 331929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 34Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 35Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 36The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 371987 Renault Espace (from History of the automobile)
Image 381959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 39A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 40Volkswagen Beetle (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 second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 43The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 44A 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 45Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 46Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 47Trucks' 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 481974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 49Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 50The 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)