Truck

truck, also called lorry, any motor vehicle designed to carry freight or goods or to perform special services such as fire fighting. The truck was derived from horse-driven wagon technology, and some of the pioneer manufacturers came from the wagon business. Because of a well-developed system of roads and highways in North America and Europe, trucks have come to carry most intercity freight, with the exception of bulk materials such as ores, which are typically still carried by ship and rail, and time-critical deliveries, which are usually carried between cities by air. Trucks enjoy an almost total monopoly in intracity freight delivery because of their ability to deliver goods directly to recipients.

In 1896 Gottlieb Daimler of Germany built the first motor truck. It was equipped with a four-horsepower engine and a belt drive with two speeds forward and one in reverse. In 1898 the Winton Company of the United States produced a gasoline-powered delivery wagon with a single-cylinder six-horsepower engine.

In World War I motor trucks were widely used, and in World War II they largely replaced horse-drawn equipment. A notable vehicle was the four-wheel-drive, quarter-ton-capacity, short-wheelbase jeep, capable of performing a variety of military tasks.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, new truck sales grew tremendously in the United States. In large part, this happened because of the introduction of utility and sport utility vehicles, which are classified as light trucks but operated as family vehicles. Light trucks accounted for more than 90 percent of all truck sales and roughly half of total vehicle sales in the United States annually by the start of the 21st century. This phenomenon was unique to the American market; worldwide, trucks are purchased mainly for commercial operation.