Mercedes Benz

Cars: Accelerating the Modern World

Engineer Karl Benz’s Patent Motorwagen was the first production automobile ever made. Debuted in the summer of 1886, with an engine that could barely muster 16km/h, the car proved its mettle in 1888 when Benz’s wife Bertha took the Motorwagen Nr. 3 for the first ever long-distance drive – covering almost 60 miles. Shortly thereafter racing over long distances became an increasingly popular sport, one that put a car’s reliability to the test, as much as its speed.
Photo of the Benz patent motor car, model no. 3, 1888. Image courtesy of Daimler (V&A Museum)