Tracing the history of the automobile in the stunning visual detail for which Dorling Kindersley books are known, this album pictures and profiles more than 1200 cars, famous marques, superb engines, automotive milestones, and the engineers and builders behind them. It spotlights outstanding examples of luxury, performance, and revolutionary design (like Alec Issigonis's Mini, launched in 1959, which established the pattern for the modern car with its front-wheel drive and transverse engine) in an abundantly illustrated road trip all the way from Gottlieb Daimler's first petrol-engined coach of 1886 to modern hybrids.

"'Definitive' is an ambitious goal, but one this hefty book tackles with élan—perhaps the way a 1965 Gordon-Keeble might tackle a winding country road."—NYTimes