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


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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.


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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.

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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.


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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.


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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.