Automobile
From Conservapedia
The automobile, or car, was invented in the 19th century by Karl Friedrich Benz, a German engineer. But it was Henry Ford, an American, who made the automobile popular by mass-producing it on the world's first moving automotive assembly line in Detroit, which became the "Automobile Capital of the World" in the 1950s.
The term "car" covers a wide variety of vehicles from "micro-city" cars to full sized body on frame pickup trucks. They have become a status symbol for people and are widely customizable. They most commonly use internal combustion engines. Cars use roads in order to transport travelers from one place to another (compare trains).
Automobile racing is quite popular world wide, with several variations including:
- Open Wheel Racing (Example Formula1, ChampCar or the Indy Racing League)
- Rally Racing
- Stock Car Racing (Example NASCAR)
- Drag Racing
- Historical Racing
Today Americans buy cars from both domestic and foreign based manufacturers, although it is often difficult to tell if a car is a domestically or foreign produced vehicle simply by the name of the manufacturer. For example, in 2006 Toyota had 14 manufacturing plants in North America producing parts and cars such as the Camry and General Motors has operations in Mexico producing trucks such as the Silverado and Suburban for export to the United States.
There are several major car companies including Ford, General Motors(or GM), Chrysler, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Mercedes-Benz. Major American based manufacturers include Ford and General Motors, produce several brands such as Mercury, Lincoln, Chevrolet, and Hummer, however these often have many of the same "platforms" or basic car components.
President Bush has urged car manufacturers to produce cars that can run on renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, to cut down on America's dependence on foreign oil. Several manufacturers are also developing electric cars, hybrid cars and plug in hybrids.
