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The first working steam-powered vehicle was designed — and quite possibly built — by Ferdinand Verbiest, a Flemish member of a Jesuit mission in China around 1672.
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Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot is widely credited with building the first full-scale, self-propelled mechanical vehicle or car in about 1769; he created a steam-powered tricycle.
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In 1807, Nicéphore Niépce and his brother Claude created what was probably the world's first internal combustion engine ,
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In November 1881, French inventor Gustave Trouvé demonstrated the first working (three-wheeled) car powered by electricity at the International Exposition of Electricity, Paris.
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In 1879, Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, which had been designed in 1878. His first Motorwagen was built in 1885 in Mannheim, Germany.
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In 1893, the first running, gasoline-powered American car was built and road-tested by the Duryea brothers of Springfield, Massachusetts.
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Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans often have heavily influenced car design
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Although intensive development of conventional battery electric vehicles is continuing into the 2020s, other car propulsion technologies that are under development include wheel hub motors, wireless charging, hydrogen cars, and hydrogen/electric hybrids.
