The United States of Automobiles

Pete Ryan for BI

"More than any other country," Lyndon B. Johnson once said of America, "ours is an automobile society." He wasn't exaggerating: Americans own more cars per capita than the citizens of any other nation. More than any other technology, the automobile has shaped America's economy, infrastructure, climate, culture, and identity. From Motown to Tesla, from "On the Road" to "The Fast and the Furious," nothing captures our all-American obsession with speed, freedom, and individuality like the vehicles we drive.