There are now over one billion automobiles on the road worldwide. An explosion in the auto markets in China and India ensures that number will increase, with China supplanting the United States as the world's largest car market. It's fair to say humanity has a love affair with the car, but it's a love-hate relationship. Cars are at once convenience, art, and menace. People write songs about their vehicles, put them in museums, race them, and wrap their identities up in them. About 15% of carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels comes from cars. Traffic fatality estimates vary from half a million per year to more than double that. Gathered here are images of the automobile in many forms, and our relationship to and dependence on our cars. This is the second in an occasional Big Picture series on transportation, following Pedal power earlier this year. -- Lane Turner (40 photos total)
Antti Rahko stands next to his self-made "Finnjet" during preparations for the Essen Motor Show in Essen, Germany on November 22, 2012. The car rolls on eight wheels, offers ten seats, weighs 3.4 tons and is worth about one million US dollars. (Marius Becker/AFP/Getty Images)
- 2012 Olympic Games
- afghanistan africa
- Alabama
- Alexander Hassenstein
- Amanda Husted
- Andy Clark
- Antique
- Argentina
- armored car
- Atacama desert
- Audience
- Australia
- auto insurance industry
- Auto racing
- Beijing
- Bogota
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Boston Globe
- Brazil
- Bremerhaven
- Brooklyn
- car bash
- car body
- car bomb explosion
- car engine
- car market
- car owners
- car races
- car rolls
- Carlos Barria
- Cary Conrad
- Changsha
- Charlie Becker
- Chengalpattu
- Chile
- China
- China Daily
- Chongqing
- Chris Graythen
- Chris Helgren
- Christmas
- Colombia
- Dan Kitwood
- Danica Patrick
- Delaware
- Dodge Charger
- Dover
- Ecatepec
- electric car
- Espenhain
- Essen
- Europe
- Fabian Bimmer
- Fiat SpA
- Finland
- Ford India Pvt
- Formula One
- Gary Cameron
- Gaza
- Gaza City
- Germany
- Getty Images
- Grease
- Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.
- Havana
- India
- Indian Grand Prix
- Indiana
- Indianapolis
- International Speedway
- Jennifer Knoepfel
- John Moore
- John Tlumacki
- Jose Mauricio Pardo
- Jung Yeon-je
- Kansas
- Katie Becker
- Kim Kwan-jin
- Kimi Raikkonen
- Korea's Armed Forces Day
- Laguna
- Laguna
- Lane Turner
- Lee Myung-bak
- Let it Snow
- Logan
- London
- long gas lines
- Los Angeles
- manufacturing cars
- Mario Tama
- Marius Becker
- Martin Bernetti
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Medellin
- Memo Rojas
- Mexican Association of Armored Cars
- Mexico
- Miguel Rojo
- Mike Conway
- Mohamed al-Sayaghi
- Mongolia
- motorized toy car
- Motorsport
- Mumbai
- Munther al Qasas
- Nascar
- Nelson Ching
- New Delhi
- New York
- northern Chile
- NY Times Co.
- Oneida
- Padmini
- Paraguay
- Paula Bronstein
- Peter Kirles
- Philippines
- race car
- Raul ArboledaAFP
- religion science society sports technology
- religion science society sports technology
- Renault
- River Elbe
- Rockville
- Ronaldo Schemidt
- Royal Automobile Club
- Rydell High School
- Sanaa
- Sauce
- Scott Pruett
- scrap metal recycling plant
- Sean Gardner
- self-made wooden electric car
- Sergei Karpukhin
- Shanghai
- Singapore
- soapbox car
- solar car race
- South Korea
- Stanley Steamer
- Stoneham
- Talladega
- the Indianapolis 500
- the Nascar Sprint Cup Series
- Thomas Peter
- Tom Pennington
- Tony Stewart
- transportation
- Ulan Bator
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Urumqi
- Vivek Prakash
- Volkswagen
- Wang Zhao
- Watkins Glen
- Will Power
- Yemen
- Zurich