Only a few people know that the first car ever created was a Mercedes Benz. On the 29th of January 1886 Karl Benz showed this amazing invention that quickly changed the world: The Car.
From that day the newborn the car manufacturer was able to create a lot of cars and refine the technologies with always something new, all these inventions brought Mercedes to be the car brand that all we know.
The first prototype of car that had a combustion engine was the ”Patent Motorwagen”, also called “Velocipied”. The invention of Karl Benz is the result of a very long work. In fact to see and understand the creation of this car is necessary to take a step back. This car lets say that is the union of two previous storical events:
The first is the realization of the first engine, that was created by Nikolaus August Otto in 1876, in fact he created the first engine with internal combustion.
The second really important event was the foundation of the Benz & Cie, that received lot of donations from rich people all around the world and thanks to this Karl Benz had the possibility to design the “Velocipied”.
This car was very similar to a (horse) carriage, it was in iron and had very rudimental brakes.
But the fame arrived only two years after the release of the invention, so in 1888. This happened when Karl Benz’s wife and the two sons decided (without telling the father) to drive the car tillMannheim, it was about 90 km a “goal” for the Benz & Cie that obtained lot of success and fame all over the world.
Now I would like to pass to another important step for the car history, I am talking about the rise of Henry Ford. He was an American entrepreneur that had a really good idea, in fact till that moment (first years of 1900) the cars all the cars around the world were only few thousands and it was a really expensive possession, in a few words, only the richest people could afford it.
So he decided to create a cheap car with the goal of increasing this new and promising market.
To succeed in his idea, he had to find a cheaper method of production, so he created the famous “assembly line” that soon became the pillar of the modern production.
In 1908 Ford designed and released the “T Model” one of the most important car in the world, in fact in only 29 years Ford was able to sell 15 millions of cars. About half of these cars were for European countries, This period is called the “mass motorization” the period that would change the contemporary Era.
The car became a daily common possession used in everyday life especially after the Second World War, in fact with the economic boom people became richer and also were created new car brands.
Still these days this market is one of the richest, and every day we have a new inventions, so lets see what the future has in store.
Sources
https://www.thoughtco.com/who-invented-the-car-4059932#:~:text=In%201885%2C%20German%20mechanical%20engineer,four%2Dwheeled%20car%20in%201891.