Karl Benz, in full Karl Friedrich Benz (born Nov. 25, 1844, Karlsruhe, Baden [Germany]—died April 4, 1929, Ladenburg, near Mannheim, Ger.), German mechanical engineer who designed and in 1885 built the world’s first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine.
Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesAlthough the original Benz car (a three-wheeled vehicle, the Motorwagen, now preserved in Munich) first ran early in 1885, its design was not patented until Jan. 29, 1886. Benz & Co. was founded in Mannheim in 1883 to build stationary internal-combustion engines; the company completed its first four-wheeled automobile in 1893 and produced the first of a series of racing cars in 1899. In 1926 the Benz company merged with Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, maker of Mercedes-Benz automobiles. Benz had left the firm about 1906 to organize C. Benz Söhne, Ladenburg, with his sons, Eugen and Richard.