The first motor car to be delivered to a Luxembourg buyer was ordered by engineer Paul Würth (1863-1945) on 6 August 1895. It was a “Benz Velo”, a model that was produced in Mannheim from 1894 to 1898. Simply designed, it was one of the first automobiles to be produced in series. Because of its price, however – Paul Würth paid 2,500 francs at the time –, the vehicle was affordable only to a wealthy clientèle.

Paul Würth’s automobile created quite a stir when it arrived, in late August or early September 1895, as the engineer took to driving it several times a day from his home to his factory in Hollerich. When Würth drove out to his second home in Walferdange, some women, upon seeing him go by, exclaimed that this had to be the devil, and some, it is said, even fainted at the sight of this horseless carriage. Würth also demonstrated his new vehicle to Grand Duke Adolf in the park of Walferdange palace ... and could not avoid hitting a tree!

The first car in Luxembourg was thus the first to be involved in a traffic accident. And yet, the maximum 25 km/h produced by its 1,045 cm³ and 1.5 horsepower engine hardly made it a particularly speedy conveyance. Whenever he took his daughter and his niece for a ride, Würth even had to get out of the car on the hill at Eich so that the vehicle would keep moving – at which point the Grand Duke’s horse-drawn carriages easily overtook the automobile. Motor vehicles were definitely still more a toy for the rich than a useful and effective means of locomotion!

Text | CC BY-NC | Régis Moes