The Benz Patent-Motorwagen ("patent motorcar"), built in 1885 by the German Carl Benz, is widely regarded as the world's first practical automobile, a self-propelled vehicle for carrying people, and first car put into series production. It was patented and unveiled in 1886. The original cost of the vehicle in 1886 was 600 imperial German marks, approximately 150 US dollars (equivalent to $4,524 in 2021).

Karl's wife Bertha demonstrated its feasibility in a trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim in August 1888, shortly before it became the first commercially available automobile in history in the late summer of 1888.



Carl Friedrich Benz (German: [bɛnts] (listen); 25 November 1844 – 4 April 1929), sometimes also Karl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent Motorcar from 1885 is considered the first practical automobile and first car put into series production. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886.

His company Benz & Cie., based in Mannheim, was the world's largest automobile plant of its day. In 1926 it merged with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz which produces the Mercedes-Benz among other brands.

Benz is widely regarded as "the father of the car" and "father of the automobile industry".