Possible future roles and designs of cars are examined in light of depletion of the earth's oil reserves. A major problem with regard to the rapidly changing world oil outlook is that cars will be competing with more essential claiments for scarce oil supplies including food production, industrial power, home heating, and running trucks and busses. Developing nations, which are particularly dependent upon the automobile, are likely to experience the most profound economic impact. Estimates of future oil supplies and prices maintain that $40-a-barrel oil is a distinct possibility in the near future and that the extraction of oil will soon begin to substantially exceed reserves and new discoveries combined. Leading candidates to replace petroleum as automobile fuel include alcohol, liquid fuels from coal, and oil from tar sands and oil shale. Although technology related to these fuels is improving, alternative fuels still cost more and do less than conventional automobile gasoline. Other means of solving automobile-related problems include improving automobile efficiency, reducing speed limits, producing smaller and less powerful cars, encouraging car pooling, and traveling by bus and train. (DB)