Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, widely regarded as the first practical automobile.
Benz completed his three-wheeled Motorwagen in 1885 and received German patent DRP 37435 on January 29, 1886. It used a rear-mounted, single-cylinder, four-stroke petrol engine and was designed as a complete motor vehicle rather than as a horse-drawn carriage fitted with an engine.
The Patent-Motorwagen was an important step because it combined an internal-combustion engine with a workable chassis, steering system, and power transmission. In 1888, Benz began selling an improved version, making it the first automobile offered commercially.
Benz’s wife, Bertha Benz, helped demonstrate the vehicle’s usefulness. In August 1888, she drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back with her sons, covering roughly 106 kilometres each way. The trip exposed practical problems and encouraged improvements. Benz and Gottlieb Daimler developed automobiles independently; Daimler was not the inventor of Benz’s Motorwagen.