Karl Benz

Karl Benz

Karl Friedrich Benz, was a German engine designer and car engineer, generally regarded as the inventor of the gasoline-powered car, and together with Bertha Benz pioneering founder of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz...

 patented the three-wheeled Patent Motorwagen

Benz Patent Motorwagen

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen , built in 1886, is widely regarded as the first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by a motor...

 on January 29, 1886 and produced it as the first commercially available automobile from 1886 through 1893. He followed this initial success with the introduction of the Benz Velo model of 1894. The Velo and the Duryea Motor Wagon

Duryea Motor Wagon

The Duryea Motor Wagon was among the first standardized automobiles and among the first powered by gasoline. Fifteen Motor Wagons were built by the Duryea Motor Wagon Company company of Chicopee, Massachusetts, between 1893 and 1896....

, patented in 1895, are credited as the first standardized

Standardization

Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards.The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers , compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality....

 cars. 67 Benz Velos were built in 1894 and 134 in 1895. The early Velo had a 1L 3.5hp engine and later a 3.5hp engine giving a top speed of 12mph (19km/h).

The Velo also inspired numerous copies, including Marshall (later Belsize

Belsize Motors

Established in 1901, Belsize Motors was based in Clayton, Manchester, England. The company was founded by Marshall & Company and took its name from their Belsize works where they had built bicycles.-Marshall & Co:...

) in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, Star

Star Motor Company

The Star Motor Company was a British car and commercial vehicle maker based in Wolverhampton and active from 1898 to 1932.Star was founded by the Lisle family who like many other vehicle makers started by making bicycles, in their case in 1893 as Sharratt and Lisle...

 (Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

), and Arnold

Arnold (automobile)

The Arnold was one of the first motor cars manufactured in the United Kingdom. It was produced in East Peckham, Kent between 1896 and 1898.-History:William Arnold & Sons of East Peckham, Kent, was an agricultural engineering company founded in about 1844....

 (Paddock Wood

Paddock Wood

Paddock Wood is a small town and civil parish in the Borough of Tunbridge Wells and county of Kent in England, about southwest of Maidstone. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 8,263, and is the centre for hop growing in Kent.-History:...

, of which only twelve were built).