Automobiles are vehicles used for transportation. They have a car body which forms the shape of the vehicle, provides room for passengers and storage, houses the engines, drives and other systems. Automobiles can be powered by gasoline, diesel, electric, or any other type of engine and have many variations in style, size and shape. An automobile can have a single or multiple wheels and be driven either by a manual or automatic transmission system. It is the most common means of transport in the world. Annually there are about 59 million cars produced worldwide.
Automobiles offer personal mobility not possible with other vehicles such as two-wheeled or three-wheeled bicycles, horses and walking. Having a car allows people to travel from home to work or school and vice versa in less time than would be possible on foot. Automobiles also make travel convenient for people who live in rural areas with limited public transportation options.
The first automobile was invented in the late 1860s by Siegfried Marcus, who developed the idea of using gas as fuel for a two-stroke internal combustion engine. This was followed by the 1885/1886 automobile of Karl Benz from Germany. It was the first true automobile to incorporate a steering wheel, brakes and seat. Ford’s invention of the moving assembly line gave rise to the dominance of American cars in the first half of the twentieth century, but European manufacturers and Japan regained prominence after World War II. In the 1960s and beyond, market saturation and technological stagnation reduced the pace of innovation in both product and production technology. This opened the door to foreign competitors such as the German Volkswagen Beetle and Japanese fuel-efficient, functionally designed and well-built small cars.