World’s first practical modern automobile

July 3, 1885: The Benz Patent-Motorwagen (”patent motorcar”), built in 1885 by the German Carl Benz, is widely regarded as the world’s first practical modern automobile and was the first car put into 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 $4,900 in 2022).

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.

Due to the creation of the Patent-Motorwagen, Benz has been hailed as the father and inventor of the automobile.