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The phrase world car is used to describe an automobile designed for, or achieving, worldwide sales using the same platform and components, often with variety of body styles. Examples include the Ford Mondeo and Focus and modern no-frills cars such as the Fiat Palio, Dacia Logan and VW Fox. ==History of the world car== In the pioneering days of the automotive industry, automobiles were primarily designed for the local market that the manufacturer was based in, such as the Ford Model T, which was engineered to cope with the rural lifestyle and rugged terrain that most automobile buyers in the United States had to contend with in the early days of the automobile. However, the Model T was arguably the first world car, with knock-down kits being assembled in locations such as Canada, England and Argentina. In particular, Ford Motor Company and its American compatriot, General Motors were focused on expanding globally, with General Motors either acquiring or partnering with local automobile manufacturers, such as Opel of Germany, Vauxhall of England and Holden of Australia, while Ford created overseas subsidiaries that would later develop their own line of bespoke automobiles independently of their American parent, such as Ford of Germany, Ford of Britain and Ford Australia. In 1933, Ford introduced their first car designed for European tastes that was not sold in the United States, the Ford Model Y, developed by Ford of Britain, and also manufactured by Ford of Germany as the Ford Köln. General Motors would counter with the Opel 1.2 litre, developed by General Motors in the United States but exclusively built in Europe and sold in the European market. This marked the beginning of Opel and Ford's European subsidiaries developing vehicles to match European tastes and regulations, which would differ greatly from the automobiles designed by their parent companies for the American market. In Australia, the Coupé utility was beginning to catch on in popularity, as “a vehicle to go to church in on a Sunday and which can carry our pigs to market on Mondays.” During the 1930s, vehicles in the United States were getting larger and faster, benefiting from an infrastructure of paved roads, relatively cheap gasoline and the lack of displacement tax and horsepower taxes that many countries in Europe had. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「world car」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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