Introduction:
Automobiles or vehicles can be classified on different bases as On the Basis of Load, On the Basis of Load, On the Basis of Load, Fuel Used, Body, Transmission, and Position of Engine.
Classification:
On the Basis of Load
(a) Heavy transport vehicle (HTV) or heavy motor vehicle (HMV), e.g. trucks, buses, etc.
(b) Light transport vehicle (LTV), e.g. pickup, station wagon, etc.
(c) Light motor vehicle (LMV), e.g. cars, jeeps, etc.
Wheels
(a) Two wheeler vehicle, for example: Scooter, motorcycle, scooty, etc.
(b) Three wheeler vehicle, for example: Auto rickshaw, three wheeler scooter for handicaps and tempo, etc.
(c) Four wheeler vehicle, for example: Car, jeep, trucks, buses, etc.
(d) Six wheeler vehicles, for example: Big trucks with two gear axles each have four wheels.
Fuel Used
(a) Petrol vehicle, e.g. motorcycle, scooter, cars, etc.
(b) Diesel vehicle, e.g. trucks, buses, etc.
(c) Electric vehicle which use battery to drive.
(d) Steam vehicle, e.g. an engine which uses steam engine. These engines are now obsolete.
(e) Gas vehicle, e.g. LPG and CNG vehicles, where LPG is liquefied petroleum gas and CNG is compressed natural gas.
Body
On the basis of body, the vehicles are classified as:
(a) Sedan with two doors
(b) Sedan with four doors
(c) Station wagon
(d) Convertible, e.g. jeep, etc.
(e) Van
(f) Special purpose vehicle, e.g. ambulance, milk van, etc.
Transmission
(a) Conventional vehicles with manual transmission, e.g. car with 5 gears.
(b) Semi-automatic
(c) Automatic: In automatic transmission, gears are not required to be changed manually. It is automatically changes as per speed of the automobile.
Position of Engine
(a) Engine in Front
Most of the vehicles have engine in the front. Example: most of the cars, buses, trucks in India.
(b) Engine in the Rear Side
Very few vehicles have engine located in the rear. Example: Nano
