The first automobile was created by Carl Benz, the father of the legendary brand Mercedes-Benz.

Carl Benz, a German inventor, is widely recognized as the father of the automobile industry. He had a passion for creating engines, and his first stationary gasoline engine, a one-cylinder two-stroke unit, ran successfully on New Year’s Eve in 1879. This engine brought him commercial success, and he was able to dedicate more time to his dream of creating a lightweight car powered by a gasoline engine. In 1885, he finally realized this dream by creating a two-seater vehicle, the first of its kind.

The major features of this vehicle were its compact high-speed single-cylinder four-stroke engine, which was installed horizontally at the rear and formed a single unit with the tubular steel frame. The engine output was 0.75 horsepower (0.55 kW), and it had an automatic intake slide, a controlled exhaust valve, high-voltage electrical vibrator ignition with spark plug, and water/thermo siphon evaporation cooling. The car also had a differential and three wire-spoked wheels. On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” This patent, number 37435, is widely considered to be the birth certificate of the automobile.

In July 1886, the first public outing of the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, model no. 1, was reported in the newspapers. It was Bertha Benz, Carl’s wife, who demonstrated the practicality of the motor vehicle to the world by embarking on the first long-distance journey in automotive history in 1888, using an improved version of the car. She and her two sons, Eugen (15) and Richard (14), covered a distance of 180 kilometers from Mannheim to Pforzheim, her place of birth. This journey was a turning point for the automobile industry and paved the way for the growth of Benz & Cie. in Mannheim, which became the world’s largest automobile plant of its day.

In 1893, Carl Benz patented the double-pivot steering system, solving one of the most pressing problems of the automobile. The first car with this steering system was the three-horsepower (2.2-kW) Victoria, and slightly larger numbers with different bodies were built. The world’s first production car, the Benz Velo of 1894, was a lightweight, durable, and inexpensive compact car, with over 1200 units built.

In 1897, Carl Benz developed the “twin engine,” consisting of two horizontal single-cylinder units in parallel, but it proved unsatisfactory. It was immediately followed by a better design, the “contra engine,” in which the cylinders were arranged opposite each other. This was the birth of the horizontally-opposed piston engine, which generated up to 16 horsepower (12 kW) in various versions and was always installed at the rear by Benz until 1900.

In conclusion, Carl Benz’s contribution to the automobile industry cannot be overstated. From his first successful stationary gasoline engine to the creation of the first automobile, he paved the way for the growth of the automobile industry and revolutionized transportation. He also solved some of the most pressing problems of the automobile, such as the double-pivot steering system and the contra engine. The legacy of Carl Benz lives on, and his impact on the automobile industry will be remembered for generations to come.