Karl Benz patented the first successful gasoline-powered automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, in 1886.
Benz’s three-wheeled vehicle was powered by a single-cylinder, four-stroke gasoline engine mounted at the rear. German patent number 37435 was filed on January 29, 1886, and the patent is commonly treated as the automobile’s formal birth certificate.
The Motorwagen was a lightweight, purpose-built vehicle rather than a horse carriage fitted with an engine. Its steering, tubular steel frame, wire-spoke wheels, and internal-combustion engine formed an important combination for later automobile design.
Benz’s wife, Bertha Benz, helped demonstrate the vehicle’s practical potential. In 1888 she made a long-distance journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back, identifying problems and showing that the automobile could travel beyond short experimental runs. Daimler and Maybach were important independent automotive pioneers, but they did not create this specific patented vehicle.