16 Interesting Facts About Mercedes-Benz: Brand Name Could Have Been Adrienne!

4. Benz Velo (Mercedes) Is The World’s First Volume-Produced Automobile. (1894-1901)

Benz Velo was a light, fast, robust, and comparatively cost-effective car. When Benz & Cie. added this model to its lineup of available automobiles, sales volumes increased significantly, and it became the first mass-manufactured car in history.

Until 1901, the Stuttgart-based company produced 1200 units in different variants. It weighed 280 kg (617 lbs) – 380 kilograms less than the previous model Victoria. It cost 2000 German marks. In the early 1900s, the average monthly wage of a worker was around 60 marks. The price of Benz Velo was equivalent to the sum of 2.75 years’ salary.

Carl Benz said the following about the Benz Velo model in an interview with Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung (AAZ) newspaper in 1909: These vehicles were snatched out of our hands. We sold them right away.

During the eight-year production period, Benz & Cie. continuously improved its small car and premiered Comfortable as a luxury version of the Velo. The carmaker offered customers extra features: a folding soft textile roof for an additional 100 marks, Pneumatic rather than solid-rubber tires for 350 marks, and a more powerful engine for 200 German marks.

Velo automobiles were mostly exported. England and France, besides Germany, were the main markets. This export success made Benz & Cie. the biggest car maker worldwide in the late 1890s.

In the picture, you can see a lowerabe bar behind the rear wheels. It was to prevent the car from rolling backward during hill climbing.

The Dutch laundry company, founded in 1894, added a wooden box to the back of the Benz Velo and converted the car into a commercial vehicle. It is most likely the world’s oldest delivery van.

The cars in the last two photos are in the Louwman automobile museum in The Hague, Netherlands.

Carl Benz, his two sons (Eugen 1873, Richard 1874), and three daughters (Clara 1877, Thilde 1882, and Ellen 1890) are on their Benz Velo Comfortable.