automobile

On the Road with Bertha Benz

On the Road with Bertha Benz

On August 5, 1888, Bertha Benz, without her husband, engineer and inventor Karl Benz, knowing about it, took her two sons on the first long distance car-trip ever performed. In doing so, she brought the Benz Patent-Motorwagen worldwide attention and got the newly founded car company its first sales. How to do Marketing for the Newly Invented Vehicle? Bertha Benz was the daughter of the master carpenter Karl Friedrich Ringer. Before Bertha…
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How the Trabant 601 became a German National Icon

How the Trabant 601 became a German National Icon

On November 7, 1957, the first Trabant left the factory of the former East German car manufacturer VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau. Although it is often seen as symbolic of the defunct East Germany and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in general, it was a sought-after car in East Germany before the fall of the Berlin Wall. During the early 1950s, vehicle construction in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was slow and…
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The Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1 – the Very First of its Kind

The Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1 – the Very First of its Kind

On November 2, 1886, the German imperial patent office granted Karl Benz the patent under the number 37435 for his automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen No.1. Benz‘s automobile is widely regarded as the world’s first automobile, that is, a vehicle designed to be propelled by an internal combustion engine. Developing a Vehicle After developing a successful gasoline-powered two-stroke piston engine in 1873, Benz focused on developing a motorized vehicle while maintaining a career…
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The Volkswagen Beetle – It’s Ugly But It Gets You There

The Volkswagen Beetle – It’s Ugly But It Gets You There

On July 30, 2003, the very last Volkswagen Beetle was produced, manufactured in Puebla, Mexico. With 21,529,464 produced from 1938 to 2003, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made. Currently, German automobile industry and especially Volkswagen worldwide is in the focus of public attention due to manipulations of the emission control system on their Diesel cars. Potentially, the famous Volkswagen Beetle had produced much more…
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The Citroën 2CV – A Car like no Other

The Citroën 2CV – A Car like no Other

On July 27, 1990, the very last Citroën 2CV rolled off the Portuguese production line in Mangualde. From 1948 to 1990 more than 3.8 million of the air-cooled front-engine, front-wheel-drive economy car were produced. Michelin and Citroën During the 1930s, Michelin took over the Citroën company and the new management ordered a new market survey. It was found that France had a large rural population not able to afford cars. Therefore, a design for…
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Land Rover and the Series to remember

Land Rover and the Series to remember

On April 30, 1948, the Land Rover Series I was officially launched at the Amsterdam Motor Show. What started out solely as a farming vehicle became an icon of the automobile industry and stayed in production for 68 years. In 1992, Land Rover claimed that 70% of all the vehicles they had built were still in use. The Land Rover was conceived by the Rover Company in 1947 since Rover produced luxury…
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Henry Martyn Leland and his Motorcars

Henry Martyn Leland and his Motorcars

On February 16, 1843, American machinist, inventor, engineer and automotive entrepreneur Henry Martyn Leland was born. Leland founded Cadillac Motors (22 Aug 1902) to build the Cadillac, the first automobile with high-precision, fully-interchangable parts. During WW I, he formed a new company to manufactured aircraft engines, which after the war he produced a new automobile: the Lincoln. “Mr. Sloan, Cadillacs are made to run, not just to sell.”, Henry Martin Leland, cited in…
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Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot and the Automobile

Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot and the Automobile

On September 25, 1725, French inventor Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot was born. He is known to have built the first working self-propelled mechanical vehicle, the world’s first automobile. Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot’s Self Driving Vehicle Nicholas-Joseph Cugnot was born in Void-Vacon, Lorraine in 1725 and was trained as a military engineer. Cugnot was commissioned by the French War Ministry to develop a means of transport for the artillery. The steam engine based transport car developed by…
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