Automobiles are very important in today's society. They are a means of transportation and also luxury. The automotive industry is a $904 billion industry. (Franco) Automobiles are everywhere and have been on all continents, they help us to travel long distances; road or no road. Automobile designs vary from manufacturer to manufacturer as well as their country of origin and the country in which said automobile is sold. There are also many different styles of automobiles and different countries or regions tend to have a preferred automobile. The biggest problem with the majority of today's automobiles is that they burn fossil fuels. We will eventually use up all our fossil fuels and will have to find something else to power our beloved automobiles. Automobiles play an important role in global trade. What exactly is an automobile? An automobile is a self-propelled vehicle intended to transport people; and usually has four wheels and an internal combustion engine for transportation on land. In 1886, German inventor Karl Benz received a patent and subsequently designed the Benz Patent-Motorwagen. (Bellis). This first vehicle had three wheels and a 2/3 horsepower engine and could accommodate two people. The first Benz automobiles were intended for transporting people and had limited use; However, the Benz name is widely known thanks to Mercedes-Benz. There are many different categories of automobiles today that have a wide range of uses. Automobiles can also be used to transport goods across stretches of land. Automobiles do not always use an internal combustion engine (an engine that creates motive power by burning gasoline, oil, or other fuels with air, high temperature... . middle of paper ......l website and browse their showroom, you will see over forty different vehicles, while in the United States there are only eighteen vehicles available from Toyota Plus. , vehicles sold in the US market generally have cheaper interior quality than those sold in Japan or Europe. Even our domestic car manufacturers sell us lower quality vehicle interiors Works CitedBellis, M. (nd) Extracted. January 28, 2014 from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/. blbenz.htmFranco, V. (April 18, 2011) Auto industry to reach $904 billion by 2014 - Yahoo Finance Accessed on. February 9, 2014 at http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Car-Industry-Will-Grow-to-904-iw-761650321.htmlOICA (nd). Statistics 2012 | Retrieved February 9, 2014 from http://www.oica.net/category/production-statistics/2012-statistics./