Karl Benz Business Model

Karl Benz, a name one might recognize from the German automotive company Daimler Ag or one of the company’s divisions, Mercedes-Benz. Karl Benz is associated with being the inventor of the first gasoline powered automobile with his Benz Patent Motorwagen in 1885 (Estoric, 2013). While Benz was not the only one who was inventing designs for vehicles, he was the first to unveil and patent his design; a design he spent many years of his life on and continued to improve after revealing it. Karl Benz was born as an illegitimate child between his father, Johann George Benz, a locomotive engineer; and his mother, Josephine Vaillant, a house servant, on November 25, 1884. His father and mother did get married later in 1845. The family lived in the

One of Benz’s other interests were bicycles, which ultimately brought him to a bicycle repair shop. Benz saw a possibility in the business and the owners of the shop, Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger. He proposed to form a company together with them, they agreed. The result was Benz & Company Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik (also known as Benz & Cie). The focus of the company was in the production of industrial machines, then as business grew they began to produce static gas engines (Estoric, 2013). With the new company came new investors. These investors, unlike those in his previous company, allowed Benz to develop his horseless carriage. The only stipulation was that the production of the company’s standard products could not falter because of it ("Carl Benz",

Taking all his previous inventions and his recent work on bicycles, Benz combined them into that which he has been in his sights since he was in school, his horseless carriage. The vehicle was shown to the public in 1885 and named the Benz Patent Motorwagen. The Benz Patent Motorwagen contained a four-stroke engine of his design, three wheels, a two-person seat, a coil ignition and an evaporative cooling system (MacRae, 2012). Additionally, the vehicle could travel at around eight mph. The Benz Patent Motorwagen was revolutionary at the time as it was the first official motorized vehicle that made use of the internal combustion engine. The engine was far lighter, compact and efficient than other engines, like the steam engine. Due to the nature of how different the product was, it received a patent on January 29, 1886. Because of both the patent and overall design of the vehicle Benz is recognized as the inventor of the first automobile. His product was not only the first of its kind, but also it was the first semi mass produced vehicle in 1887. Benz continued to work and improve his automobile, putting out the model III in 1887 (Estoric,