Which German inventor built the first automobile in 1885?

The German inventor who built the first practical modern automobile in 1885 was Karl Benz.

Benz completed his three-wheeled Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1885. It used a lightweight tubular-steel frame, wire wheels, and a single-cylinder four-stroke petrol engine mounted between the rear wheels. Benz applied for a patent for his motorcar on 29 January 1886, and the vehicle is often treated as the starting point of the modern automobile age.

The first public demonstration took place in Mannheim on 3 July 1886. Benz’s wife, Bertha, later made a celebrated long-distance journey in an improved version, proving that the machine could be used beyond short experimental trips. Her journey also helped publicise the vehicle and encouraged further technical improvements.

The wording “first automobile” can be simplified because earlier steam-powered road vehicles existed. Benz is credited specifically with creating the first practical petrol-powered automobile and the first commercially available automobile of its kind. Nikolaus Otto developed the four-stroke engine, Gottlieb Daimler was another automobile pioneer, and Henry Ford later transformed car manufacturing through mass production.