The Automobile

What is an automobile? It is a wheeled vehicle for personal use, used for the land transport of people and luggage.

The beginnings of the automobile

In 1769, the Frenchman Joseph Cugnot, a military engineer, had the idea of ​​putting a steam boiler on his cart... which allowed it to travel at 4 km/h. But Peugeot launched into automobile manufacturing in 1889 and thus became the first manufacturer.
In 1895, a German engineer, Karl BENZ, equipped a vehicle with an internal combustion engine... which allowed it to travel at 15 km/h.

This was a revolution since there are currently around 1.4 billion motor vehicles in the world while the current population is 8.2 billion inhabitants on our planet, or a little more than one car for every 5 inhabitants. It is certainly the most used means of transport.

The automobile in figures

In France, 39 million cars were in circulation on January 1, 2023. They run on gasoline for 43%, diesel for 54%, the missing 3% concern dual-fuel vehicles, i.e. gasoline-LPG, electric, and plug-in hybrid and hydrogen. The average age of a vehicle is 11 years. The average annual distance traveled for a car corresponds to 12,200 km and 15,000 for utility vehicles. For heavy goods vehicles, it is around 45,000 km and buses 34,000 km.

In 2022, the consumption of various fuels was distributed, in millions of cubic meters,
as follows: diesel = 36.2 — SP 98 = 2.6 — SP 95ES = 2.3---SP 95 E 10 = 7.3--- and
E 85 = 0.9.

As an indication, in 2004 the average annual distance of a diesel passenger car was 17,500 km compared to 14,000 km in 2022. With gasoline, the distance goes from 10,150 to 9,500 km for these same periods.

To date, there are approximately 700 car brands in the world, from the most prestigious to the least known, from the most expensive to the least expensive. In France, Argus has identified 33 car brands, including vehicles without a license. The oldest is Peugeot in 1889, Peugeot which has been ahead of Renault since 2021.

The largest car producer in the world remains China with a production of 27 million cars in 2022, compared to 1.4 million for France. The smallest producer is Bangladesh with 580 vehicles.

The most expensive car in the world is a Rolls-Royce Droptail produced by the British manufacturer at a price of 27 million euros. It is a 2-seater convertible with a 6.75-liter V12 bi-turbo engine developing 593 hp, but with a speed limiter stuck at 250 km/h.

The cheapest is the TATA INDICA with an estimated price of 4,000 euros, built by the Indian manufacturer TATA MOTORS, with a 49 hp engine and a maximum speed of 140 km/h, but it does not have a radio, power steering, heating or ventilation.
We can therefore see that between the two, there is a fantastic choice between the useful and the pleasant.