Trivia surrounding cars and driving fascinates a wide audience, ranging from television quiz show fans to social media enthusiasts sharing viral videos and memes.
While often regarded as simple amusement, trivia like this often emphasises important achievements and peculiar details that illuminate broader cultural trends.
In this article, private plate supplier Regtransfers delivers ten cool facts you may not have known about the world of cars and driving.
The first petrol-driven car
It’s a fairly common misconception that the first petrol-drive car was the Ford Model T, but that’s not the case!
The invention of the world’s first petrol/gasoline-fueled vehicle is, in fact, attributed to Germany’s legendary Carl Benz. On 29 January 1886, Benz applied to patent a “vehicle powered by a gas engine”, and when the patent was approved, the original application date became the official patent date for the invention. Benz’s car made its first public appearance in July of that year.
That first, historic Benz petrol vehicle bore little resemblance to those that would come later, and it looked more like a fancy tricycle than anything we’d recognise as a car. Furthermore, its top speed of 16km/h would be a walk in the park to Usain Bolt. But the fact remains, it’s an invention that changed the world.
The first mass-produced car
Another achievement often incorrectly attributed to the Ford Model T, but actually snapped up by Carl Benz. Not only was the Benz Velo mass-produced before the end of the 19th century, it also had four wheels (rather than three) and so looked a lot more like a real car than Benz’ original effort.
America’s Oldsmobile also managed to mass produce a car before Ford. Where Henry Ford made a difference was in transforming mass production into a modern, efficient process using the assembly line model still seen today. Ford’s Model T could be provided in large numbers at an affordable price. Benz may have invented the car, but Ford kick-started it on its journey to world domination.
There are a lot of cars in the world
Taking into account the fact that the car was invented less than 140 years ago, it’s impressive to consider that estimates put the number of cars on the world’s roads in 2024 at 1.47 billion. That’s one car for every 5.5 people.
The world’s most expensive car
In 2024, the world’s most expensive new car is the £25 million Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail (above), one of two “Rollers” that would set you back over £20 million each, with the other being the Rolls-Royce Boat Tail.
What’s more, the single most expensive car ever sold was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, for which someone paid £114 million in 2022.
The world’s most expensive car number plate
The UK record for the most money spent on a personalised number plate – at least, that is in the public domain and able to be shared freely – is just over £500,000, paid by classic Ferrari Dealer John Collins.
The most expensive number plate in the world, however, is currently the Dubai number P 7, which sold at auction for the equivalent of £12 million in 2023. “P” is the series identifier, and only appears in small print on the left of the plate. The actual registration number is just the digit “7”.
This is just one of several UAE plates that have sold for more than £1 million GBP.
The most popular car of all time
In terms of sales and volume produced, the most popular car ever made is the Toyota Corolla. Since its introduction in 1966, the Corolla has sold over 50 million units.
As well as being sold bearing the Toyota brand, versions of the Corolla also appear in other guises. The Suzuki Swace is, in essence, a Corolla with a facelift. Other rebadged Corollas, or variants thereof, have been sold by Chevrolet and Daihatsu – to name a few – at various times.
The safest and dodgiest places to drive in Europe
According to a study by Vignetteswitzerland.com, based on data from the European Transport Safety Council analysing the number of deaths per million people due to road accidents, Norway is the safest place in Europe to drive. With 21.28 fatalities per million in 2022, Norwegian road users must feel a great deal safer than their Romanian counterparts; Romania is statistically the least safe place to drive, with 85.81 deaths per million.
The second safest place is Sweden, while the UK is ranked as the third safest place to drive in Europe, with 25.89 deaths per million.
The worst place to be a criminal getaway driver
Reportedly, the Dubai police department has more than a dozen supercars at its disposal, including the Bugatti Veyron, which has a top recorded speed of over 260 mph. If response times are as impressive as their vehicle specs, then that may go some way to explaining why Dubai has an extremely low crime rate.
VW sells more sausages than cars
Though perhaps more widely known for their cars, Volkswagen also makes sausages.
In fact, VW has been making its critically acclaimed currywurst sausage since 1973. As well as being highly rated by sausage experts, the product is an excellent seller and VW now makes (and sells) more sausages than cars. If you feel like trying it yourself, order VW part number 199 398 500 A.
The average car has around 30,000 parts
If you were to completely dismantle a modern car and then count the parts the total really would be in the vicinity of 30,000. That’s including screws, bolts, wires and all the rest. We don’t recommend doing this, as there’s really no sensible reason to do so, and lots of sensible reasons not to.