The motor car

In plain language

A car is not one invention. It is a set of parts that were developed separately and then made to work together: a power source, wheels, steering, brakes, a gearbox and a body. Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot's experimental steam vehicle of 1769 showed that a road vehicle could be driven by its own steam engine, and the Science Museum Group describes it as the first working steam-powered road vehicle.

In 1886, Benz applied for a German patent for a vehicle powered by a gas engine, and the patent was granted later that year. Two decades later, Ford's Model T of 1908 showed how a car could be built cheaply enough for ordinary buyers. Electric cars were also common around 1900, but they faded from the market by the 1930s, and they returned in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

Technical explanation

The motor car brought together several developments that had their own histories: a power source (a steam engine, then an internal combustion engine or an electric motor), a chassis and wheels, steering, braking, transmission and a method of manufacture. German patent DE37435C, filed on 29 January 1886 and granted on 2 November 1886, is titled 'Vehicle with gas engine operation'. The patent record lists Benz and Co as applicant.

Manufacturing methods helped decide which cars ordinary people could afford. Ford's own history says the Model T was introduced in 1908 and that its first car was shipped to a customer on 1 October 1908. The car was later built on a moving assembly line at the Highland Park plant. The ASME, which designated the Model T a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark, states that by the end of 1913 Ford and his engineers had built a new factory and created the moving assembly line. The sources reviewed here do not give an exact start date for the moving line. Ford states that, because of mass production, the car could be sold for between $260 and $850.

Electric cars followed a separate early path. The U.S. Department of Energy records that electric cars peaked around 1900, when they made up roughly a third of vehicles on the road, and that gasoline cars won out as roads improved, cheap crude oil and filling stations spread. Electronic control came later. Bosch states that its D-Jetronic, which debuted in late summer 1967, was the first successful mass-produced electronic gasoline injection system. Commercial hybrid and battery electric cars returned in the 1990s and 2000s, including the Toyota Prius, which reached Japan in 1997.

What the evidence says

Each statement is typed by the strength of its evidence and linked to the source that supports it.

Limitations and open problems

• There is no single agreed first car. Cugnot's steam vehicle (1769), Benz's patent vehicle (1886) and Ford's Model T (1908) can each be called the start, depending on how a car is defined.
• The sources reviewed here do not give an exact start date for the first moving assembly line at Ford's Highland Park plant, so this profile uses the ASME wording 'by the end of 1913'.
• Ford's price range and production totals are company statements and have not been checked against independent records.
• This profile does not name a single first electric car, and its early electric car dates rely mainly on one government summary article.
• The sources used here are museum, patent, government, company, professional society and book sources. No peer-reviewed journal overview of the whole history was checked for this record.

Possible future uses

Timeline

1. 1769Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot builds an experimental steam-powered road vehicle, funded by the French royal artillery. Sources: [1]
2. 29 Jan 1886Benz's patent application for a vehicle with a gas engine is filed in Germany (DE37435C), granted on 2 November 1886. Sources: [2]
3. 1900Electric cars reach their peak, making up roughly a third of vehicles on the road, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Sources: [3]
4. 1 Oct 1908Ford introduces the Model T, and the first car is shipped to a customer. Sources: [4]
5. 1913By the end of 1913, Ford and his engineers have built a new factory and created the moving assembly line, as stated by ASME. Sources: [5]
6. 1967Bosch's D-Jetronic debuts in late summer 1967 as the first successful mass-produced electronic gasoline injection system. Sources: [7]

Glossary

Internal combustion engine

An engine that burns fuel inside its own cylinders to produce power, such as a petrol engine.

Moving assembly line

A production method in which the product moves past workers who each add one part or perform one task.

Patent

A legal grant that gives an inventor exclusive rights to an invention for a set period, in return for a public description of it.

Electronic fuel injection

A system that uses electronic sensors and a control unit to measure the fuel supplied to an engine, instead of a mechanical carburettor.

Sources

1. other
   Model of Cugnot's steam traction engine with plate and print (object co24438)
   Science Museum Group, 22 Oct 2026. Accessed 22 Oct 2026.
2. patent
   Vehicle with gas engine operation (DE37435C)
   Google Patents, 2 Nov 1886. Accessed 22 Oct 2026.
3. government report
   The History of the Electric Car
   U.S. Department of Energy, 22 Oct 2026. Accessed 22 Oct 2026.
4. company announcement
   The Ford Model T
   Ford Motor Company, 22 Oct 2026. Accessed 22 Oct 2026.
5. other
   Model T
   ASME, 22 Oct 2026. Accessed 22 Oct 2026.
6. other
   The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History
   David A. Kirsch. Rutgers University Press, 1 Jul 2000. Accessed 22 Oct 2026.
7. company announcement
   History of the Bosch gasoline injection
   Bosch, 22 Oct 2026. Accessed 22 Oct 2026.

Revision history

3 changes since this profile was created.