Car History

An automobile, or motor car, is a wheeled motor vehicle for transporting passengers, which also carries goods and is powered by its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term motor vehicles specify that automobiles are designed to run primarily on roads, to have seating for one to eight people, to typically have four wheels, and to be constructed principally for the transport of people rather than goods. However, the term "automobile" is far from precise, because there are many types of motor vehicles that do similar tasks.

Automobile comes via the French language, from the Greek language, by combining auto [self] with mobilis [moving]; meaning a vehicle that moves itself, rather than being pulled or pushed by a separate animal or another vehicle. The alternative name car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum [wheeled vehicle], or the Middle English word carre [cart] (from Old North French), and karros; a Gallic wagon.

As of 2002, there were 590 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car per eleven people)

Vehicles, derived from the Latin word, vehiculum, are non–living means of transport. Most often they are manufactured (e.g. bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft), although some other means of transport which are not made by humans also may be called vehicles; examples include icebergs and floating tree trunks.

Vehicles may be propelled or pulled by animals, for instance, a chariot, a stagecoach, a mule–drawn barge, or an ox–cart. However, animals on their own, though used as a means of transport, are not called motor vehicles, but rather beasts of burden or draft animals. This distinction includes humans carrying another human, for example a child or a disabled person.

A rickshaw is a vehicle that may carry a human and be powered by a human, but it is the mechanical form or cart that is powered by the human that is labeled as the vehicle. For some human–powered vehicles the human providing the power is labeled as a driver.

Vehicles that do not travel on land often are called craft, such as watercraft, sailcraft, aircraft, hovercraft, and spacecraft.

Land vehicles are classified broadly by what is used to apply steering and drive forces against the ground: wheeled, tracked, railed, or skied.

Automotive Industry

Industrial robots welding a car body in an assembly line.

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world’s motor vehicles. In 2007, more than 73 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.

In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in Asia–Pacific, 19.4 million in USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa. The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, Russia, Brazil, India and China saw the most rapid growth.

About 250 million vehicles are in the United States. Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; they burn over 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.

In 2008, with rapidly rising oil prices, industries such as the automotive industry, are experiencing a combination of pricing pressures from raw material costs and changes in consumer buying habits. The industry is also facing increasing external competition from the public transport sector, as consumers re–evaluate their private vehicle usage.

Crisis in The Auto Industry

Automotive industry crisis of 2008

The automotive industry crisis of 2008 occurred mainly as a result of the global financial crisis and the related credit crunch. In the United States, other contributing factors were pricing pressures on raw materials and substantially more expensive automobile fuels, which in particular, caused customers to turn away from large vehicles such as SUV’s.

In certain countries, particularly the United States, the industry has also suffered from relatively cheap imports available from countries such as Japan and South Korea, and to some extent, from Europe. As of November 2008, the Big Three U.S. manufacturers, (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler), indicated that unless additional funding could be obtained over the short to medium term, there would be real dangers of bankruptcy.

With residual values of automobiles being in rapid decline, Commercial Vehicle Leasing can be a very much more cost effective option. Due to the fall in the resale value of cars there is now a hidden cost to car ownership, as the vehicle you by today may lose its value by as much as a half in the first year. That is why in today’s turbulent financial times, it makes sense to look more closely as the more cost effective options.

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This page was last updated
Wednesday, 25-Apr-2012

Automotive Information About The World of Cars