In 1886, Karl Benz filed a patent application for his car, which was also the world’s first automobile powered by an internal combustion engine. He first drove it publicly in the summer of the same year.
The journey to Benz’s idea for the first car was interesting. His dream was to create a horseless carriage, and his hobby was bicycles. He built his first car by placing a gasoline engine on a tricycle with wheels similar to those on a bicycle (he did not use the wooden wheels typical of carriages).
The engine in the first car had only one cylinder with 954 cubic centimeters and 0.8 horsepower. It could reach a speed of 16 kilometers per hour.
The company Benz & Cie in Mannheim is a precursor to the automotive industry, and Benz’s first car made a significant entry into one of today’s most developed industries.
