Well as "Car" is short for "Carriage" I reckon that makes Nicholas Cugnot's Fardier steam wagon the first car anyway, and over a century before Benz. Then in 1801 Richard Trevithick's Puffing Devil and 1802 London Steam Carriage were the first self-propelled vehicles to be used on public roads. Like Marcus's, the first Benz was also little more than a powered chassis. Marcus made 3 cars, the last was the best, was still made before Benz, and can still be driven. Some people try to claim that Benz was the first car because it had a petrol engine, but as plenty of cars have been made and sold with diesel, steam and electric motors it, it is clearly neither the engine size nor the number of wheels, nor the size that determines what is a car. In UK we had the infamous "Red Flag Act" to control motor vehicles on public roads 20 years before MB "invented" them! If MB could only be happy with First Car Factory I would have no problem!