Finally, they worked together on the staff of the engine manufacturer, the Deutz-AG-Gasmotorenfabrik in Cologne that was half-owned by Nicolaus August Otto.

Unknown to Otto, Daimler, and Maybach, during 1878 Karl Benz, in Mannheim, was concentrating all his efforts on creating a reliable two-stroke gas engine.

The precursor built by Daimler and Maybach is not classified as an automobile, however, since it was a stagecoach, a horse-drawn carriage purchased from another manufacturer, which they adapted by putting an engine onto it to move two of the wheels.

There was no production in Germany, but the engine was licensed to be built in France and presented to the public in Paris in October 1889 by both inventors.

Upon his return, he experienced difficulty—they considered automobile manufacture a bad investment—with the other stock holders that led to his resignation at the end of 1892.