Cars
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8correct to beat the crowd
This car trivia quiz runs from Henry Ford's assembly line to the electric revolution in 128 free questions with answers: the badges and brands, the models everyone recognises, the engineers and racers who made them famous, and the odd facts about speed records, safety and design along the way. About half of the questions are easy enough to work as car trivia for kids, so it suits a family road trip or a classroom, and the rest climb to the sort of thing only a real gearhead knows. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 128 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does 'SUV' stand for?
Sport Utility Vehicle
There is no universally agreed definition: some insist an SUV must sit on a light-truck chassis, while broader definitions cover any car with off-road features such as raised ground clearance.
Q 02The Tesla Model S, produced from 2012, won which magazine's Car of the Year award for 2013?
Motor Trend
Motor Trend named the Tesla Model S its 2013 Car of the Year, the first time in the award's history it went to a car without an internal-combustion engine.
Q 03Which Italian designer styled the gull-winged DMC DeLorean?
Giorgetto Giugiaro
Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign styled the DeLorean DMC-12, produced in 1981 and 1982; the car became the time machine in the Back to the Future films.
Q 04Which car brand's logo features a prancing horse on a yellow background?
Ferrari
Ferrari's Cavallino Rampante was the emblem of World War I ace Francesco Baracca; Enzo Ferrari first ran it on his team's Alfa Romeos at the 1932 Spa 24 Hours, on Modena's canary-yellow ground.
Q 05The moving assembly line for car manufacturing began operating on 7 October 1913 at which plant?
Highland Park
Ford's Highland Park plant in Michigan started the first moving chassis assembly line on 7 October 1913; Model T assembly time fell from about 12.5 hours to 93 minutes.
Q 06Which film franchise features Dominic Toretto and street racing culture?
Fast & Furious
The Fast & Furious franchise began in 2001 and has become one of the highest-grossing film series ever. Vin Diesel stars as Dominic Toretto.
Q 07Which race has been run since 1911 on the 2.5-mile oval nicknamed the Brickyard?
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500 was first run in 1911 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, whose original brick surface earned it the Brickyard nickname; it has been skipped only during the two World Wars.
Q 08What color was the Ford Model T exclusively available in from 1914 to 1925?
Black
Henry Ford famously said customers could have any color they wanted, as long as it was black. The black japan enamel paint dried the fastest on the assembly line.
Q 09Which car company uses the slogan 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'?
BMW
In most markets the official slogan since 1972 has been 'Freude am Fahren' ('Sheer Driving Pleasure'), which first appeared as 'Aus Freude am Fahren' in 1965.
Q 10What does 'GT' stand for in car model names like the Ford Mustang GT?
Grand Touring
GT stands for Grand Touring, an anglicisation of the Italian 'gran turismo'; the 1951 Lancia Aurelia B20 GT popularised the badge for fast, comfortable long-distance cars.
Q 11What does the 'RPM' gauge on a car dashboard measure?
Engine revolutions per minute
RPM means engine revolutions per minute: the tachometer counts how many times the engine turns over each minute, with a red line marking the maximum safe engine speed.
Q 12Which luxury car brand uses a 'Spirit of Ecstasy' hood ornament?
Rolls-Royce
The Spirit of Ecstasy is the iconic hood ornament on Rolls-Royce cars, designed by sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes and first used in 1911.
Q 13Which country manufactures the most cars annually?
China
China has built more vehicles than any other country since 2009, when it overtook Japan with 13.8 million units; its output passed 31 million in 2024, about three times the US figure.
Q 21Before Schumacher, which driver held the record with five Formula One titles (1951-57)?
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio won the championship in 1951 and from 1954 to 1957 with four different constructors; his five titles stood as the record until Michael Schumacher's sixth in 2003.
Q 22What 1885 vehicle is widely considered the first true internal-combustion automobile?
Benz Patent-Motorwagen
Carl Benz built the Patent-Motorwagen in Mannheim, Germany in 1885 and patented it in 1886; it is widely regarded as the first practical automobile and the first put into production.
Q 23Ferruccio Lamborghini founded his car company in 1963. What did he manufacture before that?
Tractors
Q 14Which car has outsold every other nameplate in history?
Toyota Corolla
The Toyota Corolla became the best-selling nameplate in 1997 and topped 50 million cumulative sales in 2021, across twelve generations since its 1966 debut.
Q 15In a car's braking system, what do the letters ABS stand for?
Anti-lock Braking System
Anti-lock Braking System keeps the wheels from locking in a hard stop so the driver can still steer; the same anti-skid idea is used on aircraft.
Q 16Which car, launched in April 1964, sold over 400,000 in its first year and spawned a new class of affordable sporty coupes?
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang gave the 'pony car' segment its name, pairing sporty styling with an affordable price; the one-millionth Mustang sold within two years of launch.
Q 17What is a 'turbocharger' in a car engine?
A device that compresses intake air
A device that compresses intake air, forcing more air into the engine for more power from the same displacement; unlike a belt-driven supercharger, a turbo is spun by the exhaust gases.
Q 18What was the first mass-produced petrol-electric hybrid car, launched in Japan in December 1997?
Prius
The Prius went on sale in Japan on 10 December 1997 and worldwide in 2000, becoming the symbol of the hybrid movement with over 5 million sold.
Q 19Which iconic Porsche model has been in continuous production since 1963?
911
The Porsche 911 debuted at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show as the 901, a six-cylinder successor to the 356, and placed fifth in the 1999 Car of the Century poll.
Q 20Which NASCAR race is considered the 'Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing'?
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is NASCAR's richest and most prestigious race; it has opened the Cup Series season every year since 1982, so the sport's biggest event comes first.
Ferruccio Lamborghini was a successful tractor manufacturer who founded Automobili Lamborghini in 1963, reportedly after a dispute with Enzo Ferrari.
Q 24What does the 'C8' in the Chevrolet Corvette's production code refer to?
The eighth generation
C8 marks the eighth generation of the Corvette, launched for 2020; it is the first with a mid-mounted engine after seven front-engined generations dating back to 1953.
Q 25In which decade did Nils Bohlin's three-point seatbelt first become standard on a production car?
1950s
Bohlin developed it for Volvo, which fitted it as standard from 1959; an American three-point design had already been patented in 1955.
Q 26Which car chase scene in a 1968 Steve McQueen film is considered one of the greatest ever filmed?
Bullitt
The car chase in 'Bullitt' (1968) through the streets of San Francisco, featuring Steve McQueen driving a Ford Mustang GT 390, set the standard for movie car chases.
Q 27In which year did Tesla deliver its first car, the Lotus Elise-based Roadster?
2008
2008 saw the first Roadster delivered in February; built on a Lotus Elise chassis, it was the first highway-legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion cells.
Q 28Which Japanese manufacturer developed the 'VTEC' engine system?
Honda
Honda's VTEC (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control), introduced in 1989, uses two camshaft profiles for efficiency at low RPM and performance at high RPM.
Q 29The Bugatti Veyron's full name ends in '16.4'. What does the '4' refer to?
Four turbochargers
The 16 is the cylinder count of its 8.0-litre W16, effectively two narrow-angle V8s bolted together; the 'EB' honours founder Ettore Bugatti.
Q 30Which car brand's name comes from the Latin word for 'I roll'?
Volvo
Volvo is Latin for 'I roll'. Ball-bearing maker SKF registered the trademark in 1915 for a bearing line aimed at America, then launched the car company in Gothenburg in 1927.