Forerunners to the automobile.

The first ever vehicle to be powered by an engine was the three-wheeled steam cart, weighing in at 4,000 kg, which Frenchman Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot presented in 1769. The subsequent period saw further steam-powered vehicles being built, which in some cases even went into series production. The disadvantages of such vehicles powered by steam engine included the very high weight of the drive system and the need to put the vehicles into operation some time before departure.

The combustion engine, in contrast, promised a host of advantages. In 1807, Isaac de Rivaz developed a simple experimental vehicle designed to be driven by hydrogen gas. In 1863, Jean-Joseph-Etienne Lenoir constructed a motor vehicle fitted with an atmospheric gas engine which he had invented himself.

In 1870, the German Siegfried Marcus, living in Vienna, built his first simple motor vehicle from an ordinary handcart, which he combined with an atmospheric engine which he had designed and built himself. In this particular example, the engine's two flywheels served as rear wheels.

In 1888/89 Marcus developed his second motor vehicle: this featured a four-stroke petrol engine, which was fitted with a surface carburettor and electric ignition system – components which Marcus had designed himself. It is not known whether longer journeys were ever undertaken in this vehicle, and instead of working on developing it further the versatile inventor Siegfried Marcus turned his attention to other matters.