The Cars peaked at number 18 on the US Billboard 200 album chart, and has been certified 6× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Formed in Boston in 1976, the Cars consisted of Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, David Robinson, and Greg Hawkes, all of whom had been in and out of multiple bands throughout the 1970s.

[2] The demos for "Just What I Needed" and "My Best Friend's Girl" were often played on Boston radio by DJ Maxanne Sartori, giving the band frequent airplay.

[2] Robinson said of the choice, "Here they had the Eagles and Jackson Browne, and along comes this crazy Boston band who wanted a black-and-white photo collage on their cover.

"[2] The woman featured on the album's front cover was Nataliya Medvedeva, a Russian-born model, singer, writer, and journalist.

"The pop songs are wonderful", Rolling Stone critic Kit Rachlis stated in his 1978 review, adding: "Easy and eccentric at the same time, all are potential hits.

"[15] He found that "the album comes apart only when it becomes arty and falls prey to producer Roy Thomas Baker's lacquered sound and the group's own penchant for electronic effects.

"[15] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote, "Ric Ocasek writes catchy, hardheaded-to-coldhearted songs eased by wryly rhapsodic touches, the playing is tight and tough, and it all sounds wonderful on the radio.

But though on a cut-by-cut basis Roy Thomas Baker's production adds as much as it distracts, here's hoping the records get rawer.