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

A 1956 Simca Versailles V8

The Simca Vedette is an executive car, manufactured from 1954 to 1961 by French automaker Simca, at their factory in Poissy, France. The Vedette competed in France's large car market at a time when the economy was finally returning to growth and enjoyed moderate success with its American style finished off by the Italian designer Rapi. It was marketed with different model names according to trim and equipment levels. The Vedette was Simca's largest model at that time, and it went on to spawn a more economical version, the Simca Ariane.

Simca acquired the Poissy factory from Ford France (Ford Société Anonyme Française, the French subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company), along with the model line, in 1954. The Vedette was therefore initially still marketed as the Ford Vedette. The Vedette was manufactured in Poissy until 1961 and the Ariane until 1963. After that, production continued in Brazil until 1966, when the Vedette finally evolved into the Simca Esplanada following Simca's takeover by Chrysler. (Full article...)

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A pickup truck or pickup is a light or medium duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof (this cargo bed back end sometimes consists of a tailgate and removable covering). In Australia and New Zealand, both pickups and coupé utilities are called utes, short for utility vehicle. In South Africa, people of all language groups use the term bakkie; a diminutive of Afrikaans: bak, meaning bowl or container.

Once a work or farming tool with few creature comforts, in the 1950s, US consumers began purchasing pickups for lifestyle reasons, and by the 1990s, less than 15 percent of owners reported use in work as the pickup truck's primary purpose. In North America, the pickup is mostly used as a passenger car and accounts for about 18% of total vehicles sold in the United States. Full-sized pickups and SUVs are an important source of revenue for major car manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, accounting for more than two-thirds of their global pre-tax earnings, though they make up just 16% of North American vehicle production. These vehicles have a high profit margin and a high price tag; in 2018, Kelley Blue Book cited an average cost (including optional features) of US$47,174 for a new Ford F-150. (Full article...)

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Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Spider

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1885 lithograph of White

Thomas Howard White (April 26, 1836 – June 22, 1914) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. In 1876 he founded the White Sewing Machine Company in Cleveland, Ohio, predecessor of White Consolidated Industries. He was also an automotive pioneer through the White Motor Company, which went on to produce cars, trucks, buses and tractors. In 1913 he established the Thomas H. White Charitable Trust, which is still active as the Thomas H. White Foundation. (Full article...)

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On this day February 8

1985 — William Lyons dies

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.

Selected quote of the day

Bentley makes the world's fastest lorries.

—Ettore Bugatti

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General images

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

Image 1The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 2A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 3Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 4Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 5Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 61924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 7In 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 8The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 91958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 10A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 11The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 12Trucks' 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 13Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 14The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 15Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 162011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 17Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 181929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 19Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 20A 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 21Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 22The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 231974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 24The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)
Image 25The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 26The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 27Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 28Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 291954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 30Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 31Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 321959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 331926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 34The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 35Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 36A 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 37The 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 38Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 39Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 40The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 411885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 42Stuttgart, 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 43A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 44Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 45Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 46A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 47The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 481946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 49Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 501929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)