Cars are the dominant form of individual transporation of the 20th and now 21st centuries. The name is a contraction of the word "carriages" and cars were originally referred to as "horseless carriages" and retain some of the design characteristics of horse-drawn carriages of the 19th century. Cars are also commonly known as "automobiles."
The first car ever produced was a steam powered vehicle designed in 1672 by Fr. Ferdinand Verbiest for the Emperor of China. Automobile technology did not become practical commercially until the development of the internal combusion engine in the 19th century. Karl Benz designed and produced the first commercial car in 1885 in Germany, called the Motorwagen. Mass production of cars began in 1902 with the assembly-line manufacture -- an invention often wrongly attributed to Henry Ford and the Ford Motor Company -- of the first Oldsmobile by Random Olds. Today more than 73 million cars are produced every year.
A leading source for news and information about cars is Car and Driver magazine.
by Dave Nalle
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