On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his "vehicle powered by a gas engine." The patent - number 37435 - may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. In July 1886 the newspapers reported on the first public outing of the three-wheeled Benz Patent Motor Car, model no.1

Double-pivot steering, contra engine, planetary gear transmission (1891 - 1897) It was Carl Benz who had the double-pivot steering system patented in 1893, thereby solving one of the most urgent problems of the automobile. The first Benz with this steering system was the three-hp (2.2-kw) Victoria in 1893, of which slightly larger numbers with different bodies were built. The world's first production car with some 1200 units built was the Benz Velo of 1894, a lightweight, durable and inexpensive compact car. 1897 saw the development of the "twin engine" consisting of two horizontal single-cylinder units in parallel, however this proved unsatisfactory. It was immediately followed by a better design, the "contra engine" in which the cylinders were arranged opposite each other. This was the birth of the horizontally-opposed piston engine. Always installed at the rear by Benz until 1900, this unit generated up to 16 hp (12 kW) in various versions.