| 1885 |
Karl Benz built the first 'motor car': a four-stroke, gas-powered
tricycle |
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| 1886 |
Gottlieb Daimler and William Maybach built the first four-wheel
petrol car |
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| 1894 |
Benz Velo became the world’s first production car |
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| 1901 |
Oldsmobile Curved Dash, the first mass produced car, introduced |
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| 1902 |
Spyker was the first car with 6 cylinders, four-wheel drive and
braking |
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| 1904 |
Charles Rolls and Henry Royce formed Rolls-Royce |
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| 1906 |
Engineering masterpiece, the Rolls-Royce ‘Silver Ghost’,
launched |
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| 1908 |
Mass produced Ford Model T introduced: 16½ million examples
were sold |
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| 1922 |
UK’s first successful economy car, the Austin Seven, went
on sale |
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| 1931 |
Influential front wheel drive cars built by DKW in Germany introduced |
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| 1934 |
Revolutionary Citroen Traction Avant and Chrysler Airflow launched |
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| 1936 |
Fiat 500 ‘Topolino’ introduced great advances in small
car design |
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| 1939 |
Production of Volkswagen ‘Beetle’ economy car began |
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| 1941 |
Bantam Car Company built first 'Jeep' four-wheel drive cars for
US army |
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| 1948 |
Land Rover four-wheel-drive cross-country vehicle and Cisitalia
202 sports car introduced |
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| 1949 |
Morris Minor and Citroen 2CV saloon cars introduced |
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| 1955 |
New Fiat 500 and radical aerodynamic Citroen DS introduced |
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| 1956 |
Fiat 600 Multipla compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) launched |
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| 1957 |
Trabant, East German economy car |
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| 1959 |
Mini economy car introduced by British Motor Corporation |
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| 1961 |
Renault 4 economy car and Jaguar E-Type sports car introduced |
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| 1963 |
Jeep Wagoneer became the first sports utility vehicle |
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| 1964 |
Renault 16 hatchback and Porsche 911 sports car introduced |
| |
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| 1965 |
World best selling Toyota Corolla launched: 32 million sold in 9
generations |
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| 1968 |
Unique rotary engined NSU Ro80 saloon car launched |
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| 1970 |
Four wheel drive luxury car, Range Rover, introduced |
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| 1973 |
Three-wheel Reliant Robin and Invacar P70 economy cars first sold |
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| 1981 |
Delorean, British built sports car with gullwing doors |
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| 1984 |
Renault Espace MPV went on sale |
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| 1996 |
General Motors EVI purpose built battery electric car launched |
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| 1997 |
First mass produced hybrid battery-electric, Toyota Prius, introduced |
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| 1998 |
Smart and Mercedes Benz A-Class launched using similar technology |
