Page "Driving" Paragraph 4

The world's first long distance road trip by automobile took place in Germany in August 1888 when Bertha Benz, the wife of Karl Benz, the inventor of the first patented motor car ( the Benz Patent-Motorwagen ), travelled from Mannheim to Pforzheim ( a distance of ) in the third experimental Benz motor car ( which had a maximum speed of ) and back, with her two teenage sons Richard and Eugen but without the consent and knowledge of her husband.

Her official reason was that she wanted to visit her mother but unofficially she intended to generate publicity for her husband's invention ( which had only been used on short test drives before ), which succeeded as the automobile took off greatly afterwards and the Benz's family business eventually evolved into the present day Mercedes-Benz company.