Portal:Cars

More information List of recognized articles, List of selected articles ...

The Cars Portal

The Ford Model T, produced from 1908 to 1927, is widely credited with being the first mass-affordable automobile, and it remains one of the best-selling cars 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.

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 widespread in the 2020s. The transition from fossil-fuel-powered cars to electric cars is a central feature of most climate change mitigation scenarios. (Full article...)

Recognized content - show another

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

The Brabham BT19 /ˈbræbəm/ is a Formula One racing car designed by Ron Tauranac for the British Brabham team. The BT19 competed in the 1966 and 1967 Formula One World Championships and was used by Australian driver Jack Brabham to win his third World Championship in 1966. The BT19, which Brabham referred to as his "Old Nail", was the first car bearing its driver's name to win a World Championship race.

The car was initially conceived in 1965 for a 1.5-litre (92-cubic inch) Coventry Climax engine, but never raced in this form. For the 1966 Formula One season the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) doubled the limit on engine capacity to 3 litres (183 cu in). Australian company Repco developed a new V8 engine for Brabham's use in 1966, but a disagreement between Brabham and Tauranac over the latter's role in the racing team left no time to develop a new car to handle it. Instead, the existing BT19 chassis was modified for the job. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles

Selected article - show another

A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were created by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The technical requirements for an LMP include bodywork covering all mechanical elements of the car. As of 2025,^[update] there are two classes within Le Mans Prototypes, designated LMP2 and LMP3.

While not as fast as open-wheel Formula One cars around a track, the LMP1s were the fastest closed-wheel racing cars used in circuit racing. Le Mans Prototypes are considered a class above production-based grand tourer cars, which compete alongside them in sports car racing. Later, LMP1 designs included hybrid cars that use electric motors to assist acceleration. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

edit

Selected picture of the day

Fiat 500

Selected biography - show another

Edward Thomas Welburn Jr. (born December 14, 1950) is an automobile designer and former General Motors' Vice President of Global Design, a role in which he served from 2003 to 2016 and the same position that Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell once held. To date, Welburn still holds the distinction of having been the highest-ranking Black-American in the global automotive industry. He has overseen the development of recent GM products, such as the Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Camaro. Welburn has overseen groundbreaking concepts such as:the Oldsmobile Aerotech, Cadillac Ciel, and Buick Avista. Welburn was also the lead GM designer on the Chaparral 2X Vision GT, a concept car designed for the video game Gran Turismo 6. The car features 4-wheel steer and active aerodynamics, claimed to be similar to a wingsuit, and was made available in December 2014. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

More biography articles

edit

On this day March 21

1960 — Ayrton Senna, triple Formula One champion, is born in São Paulo, Brazil.

edit

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.

edit

Selected quote of the day

A car for every purse and purpose (AMG)

—Alfred P. Sloan, describing the hierarchy of General Motors brands'

Topics

General images

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

Image 11926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 2Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 3A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 4A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 51955 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible (from History of the automobile)
Image 6Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 7The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 8Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 91929 Alfa Romeo 6C (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 11The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 12Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 131987 Renault Espace (from History of the automobile)
Image 14Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 15Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 16A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 17Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 18Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 19Trucks' 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 20The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 211982 Toyota Camry (from History of the automobile)
Image 22Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 23Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 241959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 25Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 26The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 27Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 281946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with a pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 29The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 302011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 31Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 32The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 33A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 341974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
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 361924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 37The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 381929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 39The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 40The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 41Stuttgart, 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 42Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 43Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 44Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 45Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 46A 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 47The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 48The 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 49The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 50In 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)