Marcos was a British sports car manufacturer. The name was a combination of founders Jem Marsh and Frank Costin.

History[link]

Marcos was founded in Luton, in Bedfordshire, England, in 1959 by Jem Marsh and Frank Costin. Frank Costin had earlier worked on the De Havilland Mosquito fighter-bombers and from there he got the idea to use plywood for the chassis. The company moved to a converted mill in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire in 1963 and in 1971 to a £125,000 purpose built factory at nearby Westbury.

Problems with exporting cars to the USA and the move to the expensive new premises led to financial troubles in the 1970s and by 1971 they were out of business. In July 1971 it was reported that the Rob Walker Group of Companies, a principal dealer, had taken over the stocks and assets of the business and established a new company, Marcos Ltd.^[1] The new owners insisted that production would continue, albeit, at least in the short term, only for the UK market.^[1] Marcos dealers in the UK had been heavily discounting new cars since the end of 1970, however, while a report at the time of the collapse stated that the company's stock of 35 unsold cars in the USA had had to be "liquidated":^[1] in reality there seems to have been a substantial stock of new cars still looking for buyers, and it is not clear whether, over the next few years, any more were built. Just a year later, one Saturday in June 1972, what was described as "a cash jumble sale of Marcos bits – prototype and shop soiled components, benches, tools..." took place at what could now be characterized as the "old Marcos Cars factory" at Westbury.^[2] The sale was occasioned by the company's reorganisation and move to a smaller factory.^[2]

Jem Marsh however stayed in the auto business. In 1976 he bought back the rights to the Marcos name and in 1981 the Marcos was relaunched with the Marcos V6 Coupe which was sold in kit form.

Marcos went bankrupt again in 2000, but thanks to a wealthy Canadian, Tony Stelliga, buying the company, production was again revived in 2002. Race car production was relocated to the Netherlands while road car production moved to Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England. By 2005 most of the designers from near-to-bankrupt TVR joined the company.

On 9 October 2007 it was announced that Marcos would cease car production and go into voluntary liquidation.^[3][4]

Marcos Cars[link]

Marcos GT Xylon, Marcos Luton Gullwing; Marcos Fastback GT, Marcos 1800 GT[link]

Marcos 1800

Manufacturer	Marcos Engineering Ltd.
Also called	Marcos 1600 Marcos 3-litre
Production	1964 –
Assembly	Kenilworth, UK
Predecessor	Marcos GT
Class	Sports car
Body style	2-door coupé
Engine	Volvo 1800 cc or 3000 cc Ford 1600 cc or 3000 cc and others at various times[5]
Transmission	4-speed manual[5]
Wheelbase	89.5 in (2,273 mm)[5]
Length	160.25 in (4,070 mm)[5]
Width	62.5 in (1,588 mm)[5]
Height	42.5 in (1,080 mm)[5]
Designer	Adams brothers[5]

The first car, the Xylon, was a rather strange looking device with gullwing doors and a windscreen in four panels. A total of 9 were built in 1959 and 1960 aimed at the 750 Motor Club events. Its strange looks gained it the nickname "Ugly Duckling", but it performed very well.

For production the body was made less radical but initially retained the gullwing doors. It was powered by a choice of Ford engines varying from 997 cc to 1498 cc and had Standard 10 and Triumph Herald steering and suspension components. Thirty nine were made up to 1963.

In 1961 the brothers Dennis Adams and Peter Adams started working with Marcos and introduced a number of changes to the original design. The Marcos Luton Gullwing and the Spyder were introduced in November 1961. This design was again reworked, becoming the Marcos Fastback GT, which was displayed at the London Racing Car Show in 1963. The chassis was fabricated from laminated 3 mm thin sheets of marine plywood, giving the cars a very strong monocoque and unbeatable low total weight (internationally homologated with 475 kg), resulting in a great performance in sportscar competition. In total, 39 of these early Marcos models and nearly all of them were used for national and international racing purpose.

In 1964 the Marcos 1800 GT was presented. Originally this used the 4-cylinder Volvo 1800 cc unit with overdrive gearbox and De Dion rear axle but in 1966 this changed to a Ford engine in 1500 cc, 1600 cc or 1650 cc capacity and a coil sprung live rear axle. In 1969 this changed again to the Ford V4 engine as used in the Corsair and Capri. In 1969 the GT changed from plywood chassis to a more conventional steel one. This shortened the production time and also made it possible to use more powerful 6-cylinder engines with a choice of 140 bhp (104 kW; 142 PS), 3-litre Ford Essex V6 engine (UK), 140 bhp (104 kW; 142 PS), 3-litre Volvo straight 6 or more rarely the Triumph 2.5-litre straight 6.

The cars were sold into the North American market and for them to pass the exhaust emissions regulations the Volvo engine was used there, but there were delays and problems and this, along with the development costs of the Mantis, resulted in the company closing its doors – for the first time. The car had a wheelbase of 1,956 millimetres (77.0 in), a height of only 1,092 millimetres (43.0 in) and weighed 914 kilograms (2,020 lb). The Ford V6 version achieved over 120 mph (190 km/h) on test and the Volvo-engined model was not far behind it, but the heavy cast-iron engines made the cars a little nose-heavy, especially compared to the 4-cylinder variants.

Mini Marcos[link]

As the Marcos GT had got larger and more powerful, a return to smaller cars had come in 1965 with the glass-fibre monocoque-bodied Mini Marcos. With a wheelbase of only 80 inches (2,000 mm) the Malcolm Newell designed Mini Marcos was significantly shorter than the usual Marcos cars, but it was the only British car to finish Le Mans the following year. It was powered by one of the Mini A-series range of transverse engines driving the front wheels and used Mini front and rear subframes and suspension. Production finished in about 1975 to be taken up by Harold Dermott, who went on to produce the Midas. Cars were also made under licence in South Africa, Australia and Ireland. Over 1300 have been made in kit and complete car versions.

In 1991 the Mini Marcos was relaunched to meet demands from Japan and was made up to 1995.

After the demise of Marcos Sales Limited, the Mini Marcos moulds were acquired by Rory McMath of Marcos Heritage Spares. They are able to manufacture/supply all fibreglass parts, from a nosecone to a complete shell. Marcos Heritage relaunched the Mini Marcos in 2005 as the Marcos Heritage Mk. VI and Mk. VI GT

The GT Version was also included in the game Gran Turismo 4 for the Playstation2.

Mantis XP in Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010.

Marcos Mantis[link]

1971 Marcos Mantis M70

In 1968 came the first Mantis. This was a pure racing car, the Marcos Mantis XP, a sportscar-prototype with very aggressive appearance, powered by a mid-mounted BRM-Repco V8. Like earlier Marcos cars it used a plywood monocoque chassis, albeit a very different one from the GT. Only one car was made. The only race was the 1000 km race in Spa in 1968, were it did not finish due to electrical problems after the race was hit by severe rain. Originally Marcos intended to race the car in the 1968 Le Mans, but that was postponed from June to September, and by then the car was in America, albeit fitted with a Buick V8 engine (from which the Rover V8 engine was derived) in place of the Repco Brabham unit.

The XP underwent a full restoration (completed in 2008), and although based in the US, it has visited the UK for Marcos 50th anniversary celebrations and Goodwood Festival of speed.

The next car to be called Mantis was launched in 1970. The 4 seater Mantis M70 was powered by a 2.5-litre Triumph TR6 six-cylinder injected engine with 4 speed gearbox. The promotional brochure states the "styling gives high all round visibility and a low centre of gravity together with an extremely wide track ensures superb roadholding. The luxurious interior seats four in comfort, and the boot, with a capacity of 10 cubic feet, makes the Mantis ideal for the man who is going places and wants to travel in style."

However, the car was not a great success, and only 32 were sold before the company went into liquidation in 1972. The moulds were sold, and a handful of cars were produced using them by Autotune in the mid-1980s, with the car sold as the "Autotune Mirage".

Marcos Returns[link]

The Marcos brand was resurrected in 1981, still under Jem Marsh, initially producing the previous GT cars as kits with a wide range of engine options such as 3 Litre Essex V6, 2.8 Cologne V6, 1600 Crossflow, 2 Litre / 2.5 Triumph straight six, 2 Litre Ford Pinto and the 2.0 Ford V4. About 130 cars of this type were sold up to 1989.

Marcos Mantula, Spyder and Martina[link]

However, in 1983 the Marcos Mantula appeared, looking very similar to the old GT, but now powered by a 3.5-litre Rover V8 and 5-speed gearbox. The alloy Rover engine weighed much less than the old six-cylinder cast-iron units and the overall weight of about 900kg put the car back into serious contention against other Rover powered sports cars such as TVR and Morgan. The engine evolved into the Rover Vitesse Efi engine, and later Mantulas were fitted with a Rover 3.9 Efi. In 1986 the Mantula became available in convertible form as the Marcos Spyder, and marked a change that would see coupes become rare in later models. The other change during the production run, was the introduction of independent rear suspension in 1989, which used a Sierra 7" differential and rear disk brakes. Apart from the benefits to suspension, this allowed a full width boot and changes to location of battery and heater/air conditioning. Production was 170 coupes and 119 Spyders.

Launched in 1991, the Marcos Martina was externally a very similar car to the Mantula, but with flared front arches, however it was powered by a 2-litre four-cylinder Ford Cortina engine and used steering/suspension components from the same car. Approximately 80 Martinas were produced.

Both the Mantula and Martina cars were made up to 1993. Cars were originally available as kits or factory build, later in the run complete cars were available in component form for owner assembly, but by 1992 this had been phased out and all cars from then onwards were factory built.

Marcos Mantara & LM200GTRS,400,500,600[link]

In 1992 Marcos left the kit car business and launched the Marcos Mantara that was sold through dealers in limited numbers. The main difference between the Mantara and the Mantula was the adoption of McPherson strut front suspension in place of the Triumph suspension, which in turn resulted in a wider front track, different bonnet, and flared front arches. The Mantara was powered as standard by a 3.9-litre Rover V8 or a 4.6 as an optional extra. For a return to GT racing, a range of modified Mantaras was also produced in the LM (Le Mans) versions. In order to qualify as a production vehicle, road going cars were also made. Several version of the LM were made such as the LM400 (with a Rover 3.9-litre engine), LM500 (Rover 5-litre) and LM600 (with 6-litre Chevrolet small-block V8). Only 30 road-going LM cars were ever built, and of these only one was a road-going LM600.

Marcos Mantis and GTS[link]

In 1997 the Mantis name was re-used on a 2-seater coupé or convertible road car based on the LM series powered by a Ford Cobra V8 and capable of 170 mph (270 km/h). Due to the use of the new Cobra Engine the bonnet of the Mantis was significantly remodelled from the previous LM range (that used the Rover V8). The engine produced 370 bhp (276 kW; 375 PS). It cost £42000. In 1999 a 500 bhp (373 kW; 507 PS) supercharged version was announced, capable of 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds. 18 road going cars were produced in total. A race variant was created and used in GT racing, as well as Marcos' own single type Mantis Challenge.

The Marcos GTS was a version of the new Mantis, but powered by 2-litre Rover engines. The top version was the 200 bhp (149 kW; 203 PS) turbo version. The only one LM200GTRS was ordered in 1997 from Mr. Stavros Galanakis and delivered in 1998 in Greece as a present to his son, George St. Galanakis and he customized it and modify it solving the serious Engineering problems.

Marcos Mantaray[link]

In 1998 the GTS evolved into the Marcos Mantaray, but now with 4.0 and 4.6 Rover V8 as well as the 2-litre Rovers. Only 11 were made with the 4.0-litre, and seven with the 4.6-litre engine. In fact only 17 were finished; the 18th was sold in chassis/body-only form^{[citation needed]}.

Marcos Marcasite[link]

In 2002, after a break in production caused by bankruptcy, a new company was launched to manufacture the Marcasite TS250 with a 2.5-litre 175 bhp (130 kW; 177 PS) Ford V6 followed in 2003 by the 5-litre Rover V8-powered TS500.

Marcos TSO[link]

The Marcos TSO was launched in 2004 with a Chevrolet V8 engine in either 350 bhp (261 kW; 355 PS) or 400 bhp (298 kW; 406 PS) versions. The car's components were CAD designed in England and its chassis engineering was completed by Prodrive.

Also in 2004, the 5.7-litre Chevrolet Corvette (LS1) V8 TSO GT was announced, but solely for the Australian market. It was joined in 2005 by the GT2 for the European market.

In 2006 Marcos announced the TSO GTC, a modified version of the current TSO with a racing suspension, racing brakes and a rear diffuser. The car continues on with its Chevrolet-sourced 420 bhp (310 kW) V8, but there was also a 462 bhp (345 kW) Performance Pack available as well. With the extra power from the Performance Pack the TSO GTC accelerated to 60 mph (97 km/h) in 4.1 seconds and to 100 mph (160 km/h) in 8.5 seconds. With the bigger 340 mm (13 in) AP Racing brakes, the TSO GTC delivered a 0-100-0 time of 12.9 seconds, and the extra power allowed it to accelerate from 50 to 70 mph (110 km/h) in just 2.1 seconds. Its top speed was over 185 mph (298 km/h).

Unfortunately only about 7 cars were produced before the company went into liquidation in October 2007.

Marcos Racing History[link]

Wooden Wonders[link]

Marcos started out with race cars, with the first Xylon cars being built specifically for the 750 motor club races. Among the drivers were Jackie Stewart, Bill Moss, John Sutton, Jack Gates, John Mitchell and Jackie Oliver, as well as Jem Marsh. The young Jackie Stewart achieved 4 victories in 1961, while Bill Moss managed 9 victories in 10 starts (link). John Sutton won the 1961 Autosport Championship, and together with Jack Gates and John Mitchell, Marcos won the team prize.

Marcos Luton Gullwing Nürburg classic in 2007

When the car went into production as the Luton Gullwing many examples were bought for racing. In 1962 Stephen Minoprio was the Autosport 1000cc GT Champion in his Gullwing - setting 7 lap records in the process.

The Gullwing in turn evolved into the GT Fastback, also known as the 'Breadvan'. All 18 fastbacks made in 1963 went into racing, and like the Xylon and Gullwing they were FIA homologated in the GT category. However, without the gull wing doors the fastback's were awkward to get in and out of. Drivers included Jackie Oliver, Terry Sanger, and Derek Bell, and Jem Marsh of course. The sales brochure for the Fastback included options for 5 speed gearbox (Hewland), dry sump, 997cc (84 to88 bhp) and 1148cc (102 to 104 bhp) full race engines, light alloy bellhousing, 72 litre fuel tank (for endurance racing), light weight alloy oil cooler, perspex windscreen (saving 15 lbs).

The successor Marcos coupe road cars were popular track/day cars, and several were raced in the BARC and BRSCC Modsports championships, including Jonathan Palmer taking the 1977 Modsport championship in a V6 (link). Mark Hales also successfully raced a 1967 wooden chassis V6 in the Modsports class. The 1800 Volvo engined cars are accepted for historic racing under FIA Appendix K, where they are very competitive, and there are still wooden chassis Ford-engined cars being raced. The fact that the wooden chassis can take the stresses of racing for so many years shows what a successful design it was.

Mini Marcos[link]

The Mini Marcos is also a very successful car on the race track. It made its debut at a rain soaked Castle Combe race track on 25th September 1965. Driven by Geoff Mabbs, it lapped all but one car to win the BRSCC race by 81 seconds at an average of 76 mph.

In 1966 a French Mini Marcos (with Marcos support[1]) was the only British car to complete the Le Mans 24 hour race. For the 1967 Le Mans, Marcos entered their own Mini-Marcos (drivers were Jem Marsh and Chris Lawrence). The car failed to finish due to an oil pump failure - however it was clocked at 141mph on the Mulsanne Straight in the April test. The same car was more successful in the Kyalami 9 hour race in Nov 1967, when Jem Marsh and Brian Raubenheimer finished 15th, it appeared again in the 1968 race but did not finish.

Mini Marcos cars were raced widely[2], especially as a budget endurance race car, but also in local championships in many countries including Modsports in the UK. Mini-Marcos was also the chosen car for the "First Ladies International Race Team" (FLIRT), which competed at events such as the Nurburgring 1000km race in May 1967, where they retired, the Grand Premo del Mugello in July 1967, coming 37th, and the Nurburgring 500km race in September 1967 where two cars were fielded with Jackie Bond-Smith coming in 21st and 4th in class, and Joey Cook retiring.

Le Mans ambitions[link]

The Marcos XP prototype was intended for the 1968 Le Mans, and was raced in Spa Francorchamps as a shakedown - though had to pull out due to electrical problems (a third of the field retired due to the severe rain). That was its only race outing, Le Mans was postponed that year, and the XP went to America.

2nd Generation Racers[link]

After the company was resurrected in 1981 the emphasis was on road cars, though price lists for the early V8 cars included a competition car specification designed to allow the car to be use for "circuit racing, hill climbs and sprints". Competition options include FIA approved safety roll-over bar, limited slip differential, rose jointed suspension, full harnesses, etc.

In October 1993 Marcos unveiled its new racer and announced it was going back in to GT racing including a return to Le Mans. These cars were based on the Mantara, and designated LM400, LM500 and LM600. After some excellent results in the British GT championship in 1994, Marcos won the championship in 1995, 1996 and 2000. Marcos also returned to Le Mans in 1995, with two cars, one of which did not finish due to electrical problems, the other (driven by David Leslie, François Migault, and Chris Marsh - Jem's son) took the flag, albeit 114 laps down from the winning McLaren F1 GTR, due to electrical problems which left it stranded on the Mulsanne straight for a couple of hours near the start of the race.

In 1998 the Dunlop sponsored Mantis Challenge was launched, aimed at a one make race class based on a coupe version of the Mantis road car with a dry-sumped version of its 4.6 litre quad-cam Ford Modular V8 engine. Complete with FIA roll-cage the cars weighed 950kg. Numbers were few in 1998, and cars were allowed to compete in the Prvilege GT series as GT2, and the French GT series as GT3 - where a race win was recorded. In 1999 the field was stronger, and the Dutch Mantis Challenge was also strong, and some races combined both. In 1999 the UK series was won by Edward Horner, and the Dutch series by Robert Knook[3]. A total of 38 Mantis Challenge cars were built, but the one make series did not continue beyond 1999, after the GT Championship introduced the GT3 class. Many of the cars are still raced, including in the British Endurance Championship (Britcar), and at least one has been converted for road use.

In 2000, Marcos' racing business was sold to long time GT sponsor Eurotech, a Dutch engineering firm. At this stage all racing cars and road car chassis were being built in Holland, with road car assembly completed in Westbury, albeit with a much reduced staff.

The Dutch Mantis Challenge cars resulted in strong Marcos presence in the Dutch Supercar Challenge, with Cor Euser achieving notable success particularly in his LM600, with both race and championship wins (GT Champion in 2002 and 2004). In 2009 Cor Euser won the GT championship for the third time, a fantastic way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Marcos.

Marcos LM600 Cor Euser driving "La Bomba" in the 2011 Dutch Supercar Championship

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (March 2012)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Marcos vehicles

• Marcos Mantis XP
• Scale Models of the various Marcos Cars
• The Official Site of Jem Marsh – Founder of The Marcos Car
• Marcos Heritage Spares Ltd
• Official Marcos Home Page
• Mini Marcos Owners Club
• Marcos Owners Club Of Sweden
• Unofficial Marcos Homepage
• Marcos Forum
• Marcos Owners Club
• Club Marcos International

Marcos may refer to:

[edit] People with the given name Marcos

• Marcos (given name)

Sports[link]

• Dayton Marcos, Negro League baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century)
• Nélson Marcos, Portuguese footballer
• Marcos Ambrose, Australian racing driver currently competing in NASCAR
• Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player
• Marcos Hernández (swimmer), Cuban freestyle swimmer
• Marcos Pizzelli, Brazilian-Armenian footballer
• Marcos Roberto Silveira Reis, Brazilian football goalkeeper
• Marcos García Barreno, Spanish football player
• Marcos Mazzaron, Brazilian cyclist
• Marcos de Paula, Brazilian footballer known as 'Marcos' playing for A.C. ChievoVerona
• Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça (1894-1988), first goalkeeper of the Brazilian national team, later president of Fluminense FC

Politics[link]

• Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989), (President of the Philippines 1965–1986)
• Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., current Senator and former Representative of Ilocos Norte
• Imelda Marcos (born 1929), former First Lady and powerful political figure in the Philippines
• Imee Marcos, a Filipino politician
• Irene Marcos-Araneta, is the daughter of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.
• Mariano Marcos, lawyer and politician in Ilocos Norte, Philippines
• Michael Marcos Keon, nephew of Ferdinand.
• Pacífico Marcos, younger brother of Ferdinand
• Subcomandante Marcos, also known as Delegate Zero, spokesperson for the Zapatista Army of National Liberation
• Rabban Marcos, 13th century cleric later elected as the Nestorian patriarch, Mar Yaballaha III
• Markos Moulitsas, owner of the largest political blog in the US, Daily Kos

Geography[link]

• Lambayong (also known as Mariano Marcos), Sultan Kudarat, Philippines
• Marcos, Ilocos Norte, Philippines
• Marcos Castellanos
• San Marcos, Antioquia
• San Marcos, Baja California Sur
• San Marcos, California
• San Marcos, Costa Rica
• San Marcos, Guatemala
• San Marcos, Guerrero
• San Marcos, Nicaragua
• San Marcos, Texas
• San Marcos (department)
• Márkos, the Hungarian name for Mărcuş village, Dobârlău Commune, Covasna County, Romania

Automobiles[link]

• Marcos (automobile), British sportscar manufacturer

• Marcos Mantis GT, sports car
• Mini Marcos, Mini-based kit car

Military[link]

• USS San Marcos (LSD-25), Casa Grande-class dock landing ship
• MARCOS (India), India's elite marine commando force

Television and film[link]

• Lisa Marcos, Canadian actress
• Niurka Marcos, Cuban-Mexican singer, dancer and actress

Art[link]

• Lajos Markos, painter

Education[link]

• San Marcos High School, public high school located in the California central coast city of Santa Barbara
• Mariano Marcos State University, public university in Ilocos Norte, Philippines

Other[link]

• Pacífico Marcos, former President of the Philippine Medical Association
• Marco's Pizza

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Automobile
Benz "Velo" model (1894) – entered into an early automobile race as a motocycle[1][2]
Classification	Vehicle
Industry	Various
Application	Transportation
Fuel source	Gasoline, Diesel, Electric, Hydrogen
Powered	Yes
Self-propelled	Yes
Wheels	3–4
Axles	0–2
Inventor	Ferdinand Verbiest

Passenger cars in 2000

World map of passenger cars per 1000 people

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor. Most definitions of the term 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.^[3]

The term motorcar has also been used in the context of electrified rail systems to denote a car which functions as a small locomotive but also provides space for passengers and baggage. These locomotive cars were often used on suburban routes by both interurban and intercity railroad systems.^[4]

There are approximately 600 million passenger cars worldwide (roughly one car per eleven people).^[5][6] Around the world, there were about 806 million cars and light trucks on the road in 2007; the engines of these burn over a billion cubic meters (260 billion US gallons) of petrol/gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.^[7]

Etymology[link]

The word automobile comes, via the French automobile from the Ancient Greek word αὐτός (autós, "self") and the Latin mobilis ("movable"); meaning a vehicle that moves itself. 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), in turn these are said to have originated from the Gaulish word karros (a Gallic Chariot).^[8][9]

History[link]

The first working steam-powered vehicle was likely to have been designed by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672. It was a 65 cm-long scale-model toy for the Chinese Emperor, that was unable to carry a driver or a passenger.^[10][11][12] It is not known if Verbiest's model was ever built.^[11]

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first self-propelled mechanical vehicle or automobile in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.^[13] He also constructed two steam tractors for the French Army, one of which is preserved in the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts.^[14] His inventions were however handicapped by problems with water supply and maintaining steam pressure.^[14] In 1801, Richard Trevithick built and demonstrated his Puffing Devil road locomotive, believed by many to be the first demonstration of a steam-powered road vehicle. It was unable to maintain sufficient steam pressure for long periods, and was of little practical use.

In 1807 Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude probably created the world's first internal combustion engine which they called a Pyréolophore, but they chose to install it in a boat on the river Saone in France.^[15] Coincidentally, in 1807 the Swiss inventor François Isaac de Rivaz designed his own 'de Rivaz internal combustion engine' and used it to develop the world's first vehicle to be powered by such an engine. The Niépces' Pyréolophore was fuelled by a mixture of Lycopodium powder (dried Lycopodium moss), finely crushed coal dust and resin that were mixed with oil, whereas de Rivaz used a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.^[15] Neither design was very successful, as was the case with others, such as Samuel Brown, Samuel Morey, and Etienne Lenoir with his hippomobile, who each produced vehicles (usually adapted carriages or carts) powered by clumsy internal combustion engines.^[16]

In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated a working three-wheeled automobile powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris.^[17]

Karl Benz, the inventor of the modern automobile

Although several other German engineers (including Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach, and Siegfried Marcus) were working on the problem at about the same time, Karl Benz generally is acknowledged as the inventor of the modern automobile.^[16]

An automobile powered by his own four-stroke cycle gasoline engine was built in Mannheim, Germany by Karl Benz in 1885, and granted a patent in January of the following year under the auspices of his major company, Benz & Cie., which was founded in 1883. It was an integral design, without the adaptation of other existing components, and included several new technological elements to create a new concept. He began to sell his production vehicles in 1888.

A photograph of the original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, first built in 1885 and awarded the patent for the concept

In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. Many of his other inventions made the use of the internal combustion engine feasible for powering a vehicle.

His first Motorwagen was built in 1885, and he was awarded the patent for its invention as of his application on January 29, 1886. Benz began promotion of the vehicle on July 3, 1886, and about 25 Benz vehicles were sold between 1888 and 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced along with a model intended for affordability. They also were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, initially more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany.

Bertha Benz, the first long distance automobile driver in the world

In August 1888 Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, undertook the first road trip by car, to prove the road-worthiness of her husband's invention.

In 1896, Benz designed and patented the first internal-combustion flat engine, called boxermotor. During the last years of the nineteenth century, Benz was the largest automobile company in the world with 572 units produced in 1899 and, because of its size, Benz & Cie., became a joint-stock company.

The first motor car in central Europe and one of the first factory-made cars in world, was produced by czech company Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau (later renamed to Tatra) in 1897, the Präsident automobil.

Daimler and Maybach founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt in 1890, and sold their first automobile in 1892 under the brand name, Daimler. It was a horse-drawn stagecoach built by another manufacturer, that they retrofitted with an engine of their design. By 1895 about 30 vehicles had been built by Daimler and Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after disputes with their backers. Benz, Maybach and the Daimler team seem to have been unaware of each others' early work. They never worked together; by the time of the merger of the two companies, Daimler and Maybach were no longer part of DMG.

Daimler died in 1900 and later that year, Maybach designed an engine named Daimler-Mercedes, that was placed in a specially ordered model built to specifications set by Emil Jellinek. This was a production of a small number of vehicles for Jellinek to race and market in his country. Two years later, in 1902, a new model DMG automobile was produced and the model was named Mercedes after the Maybach engine which generated 35 hp. Maybach quit DMG shortly thereafter and opened a business of his own. Rights to the Daimler brand name were sold to other manufacturers.

Karl Benz proposed co-operation between DMG and Benz & Cie. when economic conditions began to deteriorate in Germany following the First World War, but the directors of DMG refused to consider it initially. Negotiations between the two companies resumed several years later when these conditions worsened and, in 1924 they signed an Agreement of Mutual Interest, valid until the year 2000. Both enterprises standardized design, production, purchasing, and sales and they advertised or marketed their automobile models jointly, although keeping their respective brands. On June 28, 1926, Benz & Cie. and DMG finally merged as the Daimler-Benz company, baptizing all of its automobiles Mercedes Benz, as a brand honoring the most important model of the DMG automobiles, the Maybach design later referred to as the 1902 Mercedes-35 hp, along with the Benz name. Karl Benz remained a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz until his death in 1929, and at times, his two sons participated in the management of the company as well.

In 1890, Émile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the automobile industry in France.

The first design for an American automobile with a gasoline internal combustion engine was made in 1877 by George Selden of Rochester, New York. Selden applied for a patent for an automobile in 1879, but the patent application expired because the vehicle was never built. After a delay of sixteen years and a series of attachments to his application, on November 5, 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent (U.S. Patent 549,160) for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hindered, more than encouraged, development of automobiles in the United States. His patent was challenged by Henry Ford and others, and overturned in 1911.

In 1893, the first running, gasoline-powered American car was built and road-tested by the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Massachusetts. The first public run of the Duryea Motor Wagon took place on September 21, 1893, on Taylor Street in Metro Center Springfield.^[18][19] To construct the Duryea Motor Wagon, the brothers had purchased a used horse-drawn buggy for $70 and then installed a 4 HP, single cylinder gasoline engine.^[18] The car had a friction transmission, spray carburetor, and low tension ignition. It was road-tested again on November 10, when the The Springfield Republican newspaper made the announcement.^[18] This particular car was put into storage in 1894 and stayed there until 1920 when it was rescued by Inglis M. Uppercu and presented to the United States National Museum.^[18]

In Britain, there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success, with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860.^[20] Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in 1894^[21] followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895, but these were both one-offs.^[21] The first production vehicles in Great Britain came from the Daimler Motor Company, a company founded by Harry J. Lawson in 1896, after purchasing the right to use the name of the engines. Lawson's company made its first automobiles in 1897, and they bore the name Daimler.^[21]

In 1892, German engineer Rudolf Diesel was granted a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897, he built the first Diesel Engine.^[16] Steam-, electric-, and gasoline-powered vehicles competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s.

Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success.

Mass production[link]

Ransom E. Olds

The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902 based on the assembly line techniques pioneered by Marc Isambard Brunel at the Portsmouth Block Mills, England in 1802. The assembly line style of mass production and interchangeable parts had been pioneered in the U.S. by Thomas Blanchard in 1821, at the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts.^[22] This concept was greatly expanded by Henry Ford, beginning in 1914.

As a result, Ford's cars came off the line in fifteen minute intervals, much faster than previous methods, increasing productivity eightfold (requiring 12.5 man-hours before, 1 hour 33 minutes after), while using less manpower.^[23] It was so successful, paint became a bottleneck. Only Japan black would dry fast enough, forcing the company to drop the variety of colors available before 1914, until fast-drying Duco lacquer was developed in 1926. This is the source of Ford's apocryphal remark, "any color as long as it's black".^[23] In 1914, an assembly line worker could buy a Model T with four months' pay.^[23]

Portrait of Henry Ford (ca. 1919)

Ford's complex safety procedures—especially assigning each worker to a specific location instead of allowing them to roam about—dramatically reduced the rate of injury. The combination of high wages and high efficiency is called "Fordism," and was copied by most major industries. The efficiency gains from the assembly line also coincided with the economic rise of the United States. The assembly line forced workers to work at a certain pace with very repetitive motions which led to more output per worker while other countries were using less productive methods.

In the automotive industry, its success was dominating, and quickly spread worldwide seeing the founding of Ford France and Ford Britain in 1911, Ford Denmark 1923, Ford Germany 1925; in 1921, Citroen was the first native European manufacturer to adopt the production method. Soon, companies had to have assembly lines, or risk going broke; by 1930, 250 companies which did not, had disappeared.^[23]

Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910–1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes.

Ford Model T, 1927, regarded as the first affordable American automobile

Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved.

Reflecting the rapid pace of change, makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1930s, LaSalles, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by Oldsmobile; in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; by the 1990s, corporate powertrains and shared platforms (with interchangeable brakes, suspension, and other parts) were common. Even so, only major makers could afford high costs, and even companies with decades of production, such as Apperson, Cole, Dorris, Haynes, or Premier, could not manage: of some two hundred American car makers in existence in 1920, only 43 survived in 1930, and with the Great Depression, by 1940, only 17 of those were left.^[23]

In Europe much the same would happen. Morris set up its production line at Cowley in 1924, and soon outsold Ford, while beginning in 1923 to follow Ford's practise of vertical integration, buying Hotchkiss (engines), Wrigley (gearboxes), and Osberton (radiators), for instance, as well as competitors, such as Wolseley: in 1925, Morris had 41% of total British car production. Most British small-car assemblers, from Abbey to Xtra had gone under. Citroen did the same in France, coming to cars in 1919; between them and other cheap cars in reply such as Renault's 10CV and Peugeot's 5CV, they produced 550,000 cars in 1925, and Mors, Hurtu, and others could not compete.^[23] Germany's first mass-manufactured car, the Opel 4PS Laubfrosch (Tree Frog), came off the line at Russelsheim in 1924, soon making Opel the top car builder in Germany, with 37.5% of the market.^[23]

Weight[link]

The weight of a car influences fuel consumption and performance, with more weight resulting in increased fuel consumption and decreased performance. According to a research conducted by Julian Allwood of the University of Cambridge, global energy use could be heavily reduced by using lighter cars, and an average weight of 500 kg has been said to be well achievable.^[24]

In some competitions such as the Shell Eco Marathon, average car weights of 45 kg have also been achieved.^[25][26] These cars are only single-seaters (still falling within the definition of a car, although 4-seater cars are more common), but it nevertheless demonstrates the huge degree in which car weights can still be reduced, and the subsequent lower fuel use (i.e. up to a fuel use of 2560 km/l.^[27]

Seating and body style[link]

Most cars are designed to carry multiple occupants, often with four or five seats. Larger cars can often carry six, seven or more occupants depending in the internal arrange of seats. Sports cars are often designed with only two seats, and very occasionally three seats. The differing needs for passenger capacity and their luggage has resulted in a large variety of body styles to suit personal requirements such as the sedan/saloon, hatchback, station wagon/estate and Multi-Purpose Vehicle/Minivan.

Fuel and propulsion technologies[link]

The Nissan Leaf is an all-electric car launched in December 2010

Most automobiles in use today are propelled by a internal combustion engine, fueled by deflagration of gasoline (also known as petrol) or diesel. Both fuels are known to cause air pollution and are also blamed for contributing to climate change and global warming.^[28] Rapidly increasing oil prices, concerns about oil dependence, tightening environmental laws and restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions are propelling work on alternative power systems for automobiles. Efforts to improve or replace existing technologies include the development of hybrid vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some countries.

Safety[link]

Result of a serious automobile accident

While road traffic injuries represent the leading cause in worldwide injury-related deaths,^[29] their popularity undermines this statistic.

Mary Ward became one of the first documented automobile fatalities in 1869 in Parsonstown, Ireland^[30] and Henry Bliss one of the United States' first pedestrian automobile casualties in 1899 in New York.^[31] There are now standard tests for safety in new automobiles, like the EuroNCAP and the US NCAP tests,^[32] and insurance industry-backed tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).^[33]

Costs and benefits[link]

The costs of automobile usage, which may include the cost of: acquiring the vehicle, repairs, maintenance, fuel, depreciation, injury, driving time, parking fees, tire replacement, taxes, and insurance,^[34] are weighed against the cost of the alternatives, and the value of the benefits – perceived and real – of vehicle usage. The benefits may include on-demand transportation, mobility, independence and convenience.^[12]

Similarly the costs to society of encompassing automobile use, which may include those of: maintaining roads, land use, pollution, public health, health care, and of disposing of the vehicle at the end of its life, can be balanced against the value of the benefits to society that automobile use generates. The societal benefits may include: economy benefits, such as job and wealth creation, of automobile production and maintenance, transportation provision, society wellbeing derived from leisure and travel opportunities, and revenue generation from the tax opportunities. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far reaching implications for the nature of societies.^[35]

Criticism[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (June 2010)

Transportation is a major contributor to air pollution in most industrialised nations. According to the American Surface Transportation Policy Project nearly half of all Americans are breathing unhealthy air. Their study showed air quality in dozens of metropolitan areas has worsened over the last decade.^[36] In the United States the average passenger car emits 11,450 pounds (5,190 kg) of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide annually, along with smaller amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen.^[37]

Animals and plants are often negatively impacted by automobiles via habitat destruction and pollution. Over the lifetime of the average automobile the "loss of habitat potential" may be over 50,000 square meters (540,000 sq ft) based on primary production correlations.^[38] Millions of animals are also killed every year on roads by automobiles—so-called Roadkill.^{[citation needed]}

Growth in the popularity of vehicles and commuting has led to traffic congestion. Brussels is considered Europe's most congested city.^[39]

Fuel taxes may act as an incentive for the production of more efficient, hence less polluting, car designs (e.g. hybrid vehicles) and the development of alternative fuels. High fuel taxes may provide a strong incentive for consumers to purchase lighter, smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or to not drive. On average, today's automobiles are about 75 percent recyclable, and using recycled steel helps reduce energy use and pollution.^[40] In the United States Congress, federally mandated fuel efficiency standards have been debated regularly, passenger car standards have not risen above the 27.5 miles per US gallon (8.55 L/100 km; 33.0 mpg_-imp) standard set in 1985. Light truck standards have changed more frequently, and were set at 22.2 miles per US gallon (10.6 L/100 km; 26.7 mpg_-imp) in 2007.^[41] Alternative fuel vehicles are another option that is less polluting than conventional petroleum powered vehicles.

Oil consumption in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been abundantly pushed by automobile growth; the 1985-2003 oil glut even fuelled the sales of low economy vehicles in OECD countries. The BRIC countries might also kick in, as China briefly was the first automobile market in December 2009.^[42]

Residents of low-density, residential-only sprawling communities are also more likely to die in car collisions^{[original research?]} which kill 1.2 million people worldwide each year, and injure about forty times this number.^[29] Sprawl is more broadly a factor in inactivity and obesity, which in turn can lead to increased risk of a variety of diseases.^[43]

Driverless cars[link]

A robotic Volkswagen Passat shown at Stanford University is a driverless car

Fully autonomous vehicles, also known as robotic cars, or driverless cars, already exist in prototype, and are expected to be commercially available around 2020. According to urban designer and futurist Michael E. Arth, driverless electric vehicles—in conjunction with the increased use of virtual reality for work, travel, and pleasure—could reduce the world's 800 million vehicles to a fraction of that number within a few decades.^[44] This would be possible if almost all private cars requiring drivers, which are not in use and parked 90% of the time, would be traded for public self-driving taxis that would be in near constant use. This would also allow for getting the appropriate vehicle for the particular need—a bus could come for a group of people, a limousine could come for a special night out, and a Segway could come for a short trip down the street for one person. Children could be chauffeured in supervised safety, DUIs would no longer exist, and 41,000 lives could be saved each year in the US alone.^[45][46]

Future car technologies[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

Automobile propulsion technology under development include gasoline/electric and plug-in hybrids, battery electric vehicles, hydrogen cars, biofuels, and various alternative fuels. Research into future alternative forms of power include the development of fuel cells, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI), Stirling engines,^[47] and even using the stored energy of compressed air or liquid nitrogen.

New materials which may replace steel car bodies include duraluminum, fiberglass, carbon fiber, and carbon nanotubes.

Telematics technology is allowing more and more people to share cars, on a pay-as-you-go basis, through car share and carpool schemes.

Communication is also evolving due to connected car systems.

Open source development[link]

There have been several projects aiming to develop a car on the principles of open design. The projects include OScar, Riversimple (through 40fires.org)^[48] and c,mm,n.^[49] None of the projects have reached significant success in terms of developing a car as a whole both from hardware and software perspective and no mass production ready open-source based design have been introduced as of late 2009. Some car hacking through on-board diagnostics (OBD) has been done so far.^[50]

Alternatives to the automobile[link]

Established alternatives for some aspects of automobile use include public transit such as buses, trolleybuses, trains, subways, tramways light rail, cycling, and walking. Car-share arrangements and carpooling are also increasingly popular–the US market leader in car-sharing has experienced double-digit growth in revenue and membership growth between 2006 and 2007, offering a service that enables urban residents to "share" a vehicle rather than own a car in already congested neighborhoods.^[51] Bike-share systems have been tried in some European cities, including Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Similar programs have been experimented with in a number of US Cities.^[52] Additional individual modes of transport, such as personal rapid transit could serve as an alternative to automobiles if they prove to be socially accepted.^[53]

Industry[link]

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells the world's motor vehicles. In 2008, more than 70 million motor vehicles, including cars and commercial vehicles were produced worldwide.^[54]

In 2007, a total of 71.9 million new automobiles were sold worldwide: 22.9 million in Europe, 21.4 million in the Asia-Pacific Region, 19.4 million in the USA and Canada, 4.4 million in Latin America, 2.4 million in the Middle East and 1.4 million in Africa.^[55] The markets in North America and Japan were stagnant, while those in South America and other parts of Asia grew strongly. Of the major markets, China, Russia, Brazil and India saw the most rapid growth.

About 250 million vehicles are in use 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 US gallons (980,000,000 m³) of gasoline and diesel fuel yearly. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China and India.^[7] In the opinion of some, urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investments. Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars.^[56][57][58] The sustainable transport movement focuses on solutions to these problems.

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.^[59] Roughly half of the US's fifty-one light vehicle plants are projected to permanently close in the coming years, with the loss of another 200,000 jobs in the sector, on top of the 560,000 jobs lost this decade.^[60] Combined with robust growth in China, in 2009, this resulted in China becoming the largest automobile producer and market in the world. China 2009 sales had increased to 13.6 million, a significant increase from one million of domestic car sales in 2000.^[61]

See also[link]

Cars portal

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: California AB 1493

• Media related to Automobile at Wikimedia Commons
• The Wiktionary entry for automobile
• Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
• Forum for the Automobile and Society