Few inventions have shaped human life as much as the automobile, the vehicle that transports people over long distances. Passenger cars have become the backbone of a new consumer goods-oriented society, and their use accounts for three trillion miles (five trillion kilometers) per year in the United States alone. In addition to transforming travel, they have reshaped urban planning and government services and provided major profits for steel, petroleum, and other ancillary industries.
Automobiles are of many types based on their purpose as whether they are a passenger carrier, a goods carrier or for special usage such as fire brigade, ambulance etc. They are categorized based on their layout, engine type, drive type and other factors.
Having your own automobile allows you to cover large distances with ease which opens up a world of opportunities for work and play. The hours that you would otherwise spend on commuting or trying to coordinate travel with your family members can be spent doing other productive and fun things.
The automobile industry quickly established itself as a seller’s market, as America’s vast land area and its relatively equitable distribution of income encouraged great demand for the products of the new firms. It was also inevitable that advanced design would merge with moderate prices and low operating costs to create the automobile as we know it. Today’s car is a complex technical system that consists of thousands of subsystems with specific design functions.