THC Science

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 over 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.

Lexus (レクサス, Rekusasu) is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese global brands in market value. Lexus is headquartered in Nagoya, Japan. Operational centers are located in Brussels, Belgium, and Plano, Texas, United States.

Created at around the same time as Japanese rivals Honda and Nissan created their Acura and Infiniti luxury divisions respectively, Lexus originated from a corporate project to develop a new premium sedan, code-named F1, which began in 1983 and culminated in the launch of the Lexus LS in 1989. Subsequently, the division added sedan, coupé, convertible and SUV models. Lexus did not exist as a brand in its home market until 2005, and all vehicles marketed internationally as Lexus from 1989 to 2005 were released in Japan under the Toyota marque and an equivalent model name. In 2005, a hybrid version of the RX crossover debuted and additional hybrid models later joined the division's lineup. Lexus launched its own F marque performance division in 2007 with the debut of the IS F sport sedan, followed by the LFA supercar in 2009. (Full article...)

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The Prince Motor Company (Japanese: プリンス自動車工業株式会社) was an automobile marque from Japan which eventually merged into Nissan in 1966. It began as the Tachikawa Aircraft Company, a manufacturer of various airplanes for the Japanese Army in World War II, e.g., the Ki-36, Ki-55 and Ki-74. Tachikawa Aircraft Company was dissolved after the war and the company took the name Fuji Precision Industries. It diversified into automobiles, producing an electric car, the Tama, in 1946, named for the region the company originated in, Tama, using the Ohta series PC/PD platform. The company changed its name to Prince in 1952 to honor Akihito's formal investiture as Crown Prince of the nation. In 1954 they changed their name back to Fuji Precision Industries, and in 1961 changed the name back again to Prince Motor Company. In 1966, they became part of Nissan, while the Prince organization remained in existence inside Nissan, as Nissan Prince Store in Japan until Nissan consolidated the Prince dealership network into "Nissan Blue Stage" in 1999. (Full article...)

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Maserati Spyder

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Marchionne in 2007

Sergio Marchionne (Italian: [ˈsɛrdʒo marˈkjɔnne]; 17 June 1952 – 25 July 2018) was an Italian-Canadian businessman, widely known for his turnarounds of the automakers Fiat and Chrysler, his business acumen and his outspoken and often frank approach, especially when dealing with unpalatable issues related to his companies and the automotive industry.

Marchionne was the chairman of CNH Industrial, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the chairman and CEO of FCA US LLC, the chairman and CEO of Ferrari, and the chairman of Maserati. He was the chairman of Swiss-based SGS and vice chairman of UBS from 2008 to 2010, as well as the chairman of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association for 2012 (first elected in January 2006). He was a member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and the chairman of the Italian branch of the Council for the United States and Italy. (Full article...)

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On this day July 16

2003 — Dongfeng Honda Automobile Company is established to produce Honda cars in China

2006 — The all-new Holden VE Commodore is revealed

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

The public don't know what they want; it's my job to tell them.

—Alec Issigonis

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General images

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

Image 1Audi A4 daytime running lights (from Car)
Image 21974 Citroën DS (from History of the automobile)
Image 3The Vélib' in Paris, France, is the largest bikesharing system outside China. (from Car)
Image 4A replica of Richard Trevithick's 1801 road locomotive 'Puffing Devil' (from History of the automobile)
Image 5Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (from History of the automobile)
Image 6Panel for fuses and circuit breakers (from Car)
Image 7A 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 8Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris (from Car)
Image 91885-built Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use (from History of the automobile)
Image 10Road congestion is an issue in many major cities (pictured is Chang'an Avenue in Beijing). (from Car)
Image 11The 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 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 13The Präsident automobile (from History of the automobile)
Image 14Bertha Benz, the first long distance driver (from Car)
Image 15The Flocken Elektrowagen was the first four-wheeled electric car (from Car)
Image 161929 Austin Seven (from History of the automobile)
Image 17Stuttgart, 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 18The original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first modern car, built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept (from Car)
Image 19A 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 20Ford Motor Company automobile assembly line in the 1920s (from Car)
Image 21Model-T Ford car parked near the Geelong Art Gallery at its launch in Australia in 1915 (from History of the automobile)
Image 221959 Morris Mini-Minor (from History of the automobile)
Image 23Gurgel Supermini (from History of the automobile)
Image 24Car exhaust gas is one type of pollution
Image 252011 Nissan Leaf electric car (from Car)
Image 26Ransom E. Olds founded Olds Motor Vehicle Company (Oldsmobile) in 1897. (from Car)
Image 27The German Flocken Elektrowagen of 1888, perhaps the first electric car in the world (from History of the automobile)
Image 281954 Plymouth Savoy Station Wagon, one of the first US all-metal station wagons (from History of the automobile)
Image 29Carl Benz, the inventor of the modern car (from Car)
Image 30A car being assembled in a factory (from Car)
Image 31Fiat 4 HP, the first car model produced by Italian manufacturer Fiat in 1899 (from History of the automobile)
Image 32Cugnot's steam wagon, the second (1771) version (from History of the automobile)
Image 33The Ford Model T (foreground) and Volkswagen Beetle (background) are among the most mass-produced car models in history. (from History of the automobile)
Image 341924 Doble Model E (from History of the automobile)
Image 35Rolls-Royce Phantom III (from History of the automobile)
Image 36Result of a serious car collision (from Car)
Image 37Volkswagen Beetle (from History of the automobile)
Image 38The first automobile in Japan, a French Panhard-Levassor, in 1898 (from History of the automobile)
Image 39Steam machine of Verbiest, in 1678 (Ferdinand Verbiest) (from Car)
Image 40A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car. (from Car)
Image 41The Selden Road-Engine (from History of the automobile)
Image 421946 GAZ-M20 Pobeda, one of the first mass-produced cars with pontoon design (from History of the automobile)
Image 43A Chevrolet Suburban extended-length SUV weighs 3,300 kilograms (7,200 lb) (gross weight). (from Car)
Image 441929 Alfa Romeo 6C (from History of the automobile)
Image 45In 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 461926 Bugatti Type 35 (from History of the automobile)
Image 471958 Lancia Appia (from History of the automobile)
Image 48The second Marcus car of 1888 (from History of the automobile)
Image 49The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car of all-time. (from Car)
Image 50The Toyota Corolla is the world's bestselling nameplate. (from History of the automobile)