C.A

To hire a car when on holiday anywhere is quite simple. Car hire in Cyprus, for example, is convenient and because Cyprus is an island, getting there by car is not an option. Although getting to Cyprus is not a problem itself, since air and boat tickets are easily available, transport on the island will require car hire. Cyprus has many companies that offer their services for this purpose. But how did it all begin?

Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot constructed the first working vehicle that moved by itself in 1769. It had a steam engine, was as big as a small bus and its top speed was slower than walking! It had to stop 4-6 times every hour to refill the water reservoir. Other inventors also tried to work with steam, but size and speed always failed. The first two inventions for an engine that worked on internal combustion were built in 1807. But these weren’t entirely successful either. 

In 1885 Karl Benz built an automobile with his four-stroke cycle petrol engine in Mannheim, Germany. He is generally recognised as the inventor of the modern car. Maybach and Daimler founded Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) in Cannstatt in1890 and sold their first car in 1892. It was a horse-drawn stagecoach built by another company, in which they had placed their engine. After Maybach designed the Daimler-Mercedes engine in 1900, DMG and Benz & Cie. merged and branded all of their vehicles as Mercedes Benz on June 28, 1926. 

George Selden of Rochester, New York made the first American automobile with an internal combustion engine working with gasoline, in 1877. It wasn’t very efficient and only after sixteen years of further work was he allowed a U.S. patent on his design. It could not keep up to Henry Ford’s and others’ designs and was annulled in 1911. Since then the industry has grown to what it is today.

A second thought is hardly given to the work that went into the designing and building which makes travelling so easy today. Now there are many types of vehicles for all the different terrains, occasions and needs. While public transportation has its place and keeps advancing in its many directions, most people prefer to have their own vehicle in which to drive. 

The car has brought in numerous conveniences that many cannot think to live without in this fast-paced age. It is a booming world-wide business, despite the fact that the times are financially hard for many people. Travelling is more comfortable for long distances by plane, but the car is fundamental to travel. There wouldn’t be companies that sell or rent out cars if the need was not there. The shape, size and engineering of cars might change, but the car is here to stay.