Who can truly be called the first car manufacturer?
We usually think the story of the automobile began with Karl Benz in 1886. But imagine this: horseless carriages were already rattling down streets almost a century earlier. One of the world’s first electric cars? Patented by a blacksmith in America. And a French engineer’s steam tricycle? It crashed into a wall and went down in history as the world’s very first traffic accident. The truth is, the birth of the car wasn’t neat or linear — it was messy, surprising, and far more exciting than most people realize.
Steam Pioneers
Most people think cars began with Karl Benz. But 117 years earlier, in 1769, French inventor Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built his steam-powered tricycle.
It weighed over a ton, crawled at walking speed — and once plowed straight into a wall. Historians like to call it the world’s very first car crash.
Three decades later, in 1801, English engineer Richard Trevithick unveiled his “Puffing Devil” — a steam carriage that managed to hit 15 km/h. Not bad for its time… until it caught fire and burned down the very same day.
By the mid-19th century, steam carriages and even buses were already running on British roads.
One, built by Goldsworthy Gurney in 1827, carried passengers between London and Bath. But strict laws — like the bizarre rule that someone had to walk in front waving a red flag — killed the public’s appetite for steam travel.
The irony? Horseless vehicles were already on the roads decades before Benz, but what stopped them wasn’t technology — it was laws and society’s fear of change.
It weighed over a ton, crawled at walking speed — and once plowed straight into a wall. Historians like to call it the world’s very first car crash.
Three decades later, in 1801, English engineer Richard Trevithick unveiled his “Puffing Devil” — a steam carriage that managed to hit 15 km/h. Not bad for its time… until it caught fire and burned down the very same day.
By the mid-19th century, steam carriages and even buses were already running on British roads.
One, built by Goldsworthy Gurney in 1827, carried passengers between London and Bath. But strict laws — like the bizarre rule that someone had to walk in front waving a red flag — killed the public’s appetite for steam travel.
The irony? Horseless vehicles were already on the roads decades before Benz, but what stopped them wasn’t technology — it was laws and society’s fear of change.
Electric Experiments: The 19th Century’s Forgotten Future
Today, electric cars are almost synonymous with Tesla — but their story began nearly two centuries ago.
In 1828, Hungarian engineer Ányos Jedlik built a tiny model cart powered by an electric motor — essentially the world’s first “mini-EV.”
In the 1830s, Scottish inventor Robert Anderson put an electric carriage on the streets, running on single-use batteries: it moved on its own, but once the power was gone, there was no way to recharge.
And in 1834, American blacksmith Thomas Davenport patented a DC motor and built a small electric vehicle that ran on rails — his original model is still kept at the Smithsonian.
So yes, more than 150 years before Elon Musk, the world had already seen electric cars, but weak batteries and primitive technology pushed that future back into the workshop drawers.
Karl Benz and the Gasoline Breakthrough
By the 1880s, steam and electricity had already made their attempts, but it was gasoline that turned out to be the true “fuel of the future.”
In 1886, Karl Benz unveiled his Patent-Motorwagen — a three-wheeled carriage powered by a single-cylinder engine producing just 0.75 horsepower and topping out at 16 km/h.
Surprisingly, the real breakthrough wasn’t the machine itself, but the patent: by securing legal ownership of the idea, Benz cemented his place in history as the “father of the automobile.”
In 1886, Karl Benz unveiled his Patent-Motorwagen — a three-wheeled carriage powered by a single-cylinder engine producing just 0.75 horsepower and topping out at 16 km/h.
Surprisingly, the real breakthrough wasn’t the machine itself, but the patent: by securing legal ownership of the idea, Benz cemented his place in history as the “father of the automobile.”
And then came 1888, when his wife Bertha Benz made history of her own.
Without telling her husband, she set off on the first long-distance drive, covering around 100 km in the Motorwagen and refueling along the way with ligroin — a form of gasoline sold in pharmacies.
What looked like a daring family adventure became proof that the car wasn’t just an invention, but a practical means of travel.
That journey didn’t just fuel her Motorwagen — it fueled the birth of the entire auto industry. Benz & Cie. thus became the first true car company, and Bertha’s trip became the symbolic starting line of modern motoring.
Without telling her husband, she set off on the first long-distance drive, covering around 100 km in the Motorwagen and refueling along the way with ligroin — a form of gasoline sold in pharmacies.
What looked like a daring family adventure became proof that the car wasn’t just an invention, but a practical means of travel.
That journey didn’t just fuel her Motorwagen — it fueled the birth of the entire auto industry. Benz & Cie. thus became the first true car company, and Bertha’s trip became the symbolic starting line of modern motoring.
Rivals and Alternative Claims
Although Benz’s name became synonymous with “the first car,” he wasn’t alone in the race.
In 1885, almost in parallel, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach put together their own four-wheeled carriage with a gasoline engine — in many ways, more like a modern car than Benz’s three-wheeler.
Across the Atlantic, American lawyer George Selden had been trying since the 1870s to patent a “carriage engine,” and for decades he collected royalties from U.S. automakers — despite the fact that his invention was never actually built.
In France, the Peugeot brothers rolled out one of the earliest series-produced cars in 1889, soon joined by Louis Renault, who added practical innovations like the driveshaft.
Taken together, these stories show that there wasn’t just one pioneer: some invented the engines, others brought cars into series production, and still others made them practical for everyday people. The “first” wasn’t a single man — it was a whole generation of engineers shaping the dawn of motoring.
Although Benz’s name became synonymous with “the first car,” he wasn’t alone in the race.
In 1885, almost in parallel, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach put together their own four-wheeled carriage with a gasoline engine — in many ways, more like a modern car than Benz’s three-wheeler.
Across the Atlantic, American lawyer George Selden had been trying since the 1870s to patent a “carriage engine,” and for decades he collected royalties from U.S. automakers — despite the fact that his invention was never actually built.
In France, the Peugeot brothers rolled out one of the earliest series-produced cars in 1889, soon joined by Louis Renault, who added practical innovations like the driveshaft.
Taken together, these stories show that there wasn’t just one pioneer: some invented the engines, others brought cars into series production, and still others made them practical for everyday people. The “first” wasn’t a single man — it was a whole generation of engineers shaping the dawn of motoring.
Bertha Benz
Who Was the First “Real” Manufacturer?
When people debate the “first car,” they usually argue over models. But an equally important question is: who was the first to actually produce cars for sale?
Here, the credit goes to Benz & Cie. — Karl Benz’s company, which, after 1886, really began delivering Motorwagens to customers.
The numbers were tiny, but they marked the true beginning of the auto industry.
Around the same time in Germany, Daimler and Maybach were developing their own projects, while in France the Peugeot brothers launched production in 1889, soon joined by Louis Renault, who added practical innovations like the driveshaft.
The result is a fascinating split: Benz was the first patented inventor and commercial producer; Daimler was the first to put a gasoline engine on a four-wheeled carriage; and Peugeot and Renault were among the first to build a true industry around mass production.
Here, the credit goes to Benz & Cie. — Karl Benz’s company, which, after 1886, really began delivering Motorwagens to customers.
The numbers were tiny, but they marked the true beginning of the auto industry.
Around the same time in Germany, Daimler and Maybach were developing their own projects, while in France the Peugeot brothers launched production in 1889, soon joined by Louis Renault, who added practical innovations like the driveshaft.
The result is a fascinating split: Benz was the first patented inventor and commercial producer; Daimler was the first to put a gasoline engine on a four-wheeled carriage; and Peugeot and Renault were among the first to build a true industry around mass production.
The history of the first automobile isn’t a single point in time but a long chain of experiments.
The steam vehicles of Cugnot and Trevithick proved that a machine could move without a horse.
The electric carts of Jedlik, Anderson, and Davenport showed that alternative power sources were already possible in the 19th century.
But it was Karl Benz’s gasoline-powered Patent-Motorwagen that became the turning point: not just an invention, but a patented product available to buyers.
Daimler, Maybach, Peugeot, and Renault picked up the torch and began turning a rare curiosity into an industry.
So, when we ask “who was the first car manufacturer?” the most accurate answer is this: the automobile was born step by step, in different countries and different workshops — but it was Benz & Cie. that made the decisive move which marked the beginning of the modern automotive era.
The steam vehicles of Cugnot and Trevithick proved that a machine could move without a horse.
The electric carts of Jedlik, Anderson, and Davenport showed that alternative power sources were already possible in the 19th century.
But it was Karl Benz’s gasoline-powered Patent-Motorwagen that became the turning point: not just an invention, but a patented product available to buyers.
Daimler, Maybach, Peugeot, and Renault picked up the torch and began turning a rare curiosity into an industry.
So, when we ask “who was the first car manufacturer?” the most accurate answer is this: the automobile was born step by step, in different countries and different workshops — but it was Benz & Cie. that made the decisive move which marked the beginning of the modern automotive era.
