Carl Benz did not develop his first gasoline engine with more than one cylinder before 1897 but in so doing opted for a new principle. Whereas Daimler and Maybach built their engines with cylinders arranged in V-shape or in parallel, Benz developed an engine family with two cylinders arranged opposite each other. With this design, which he called “contra engine”, Benz had created the world’s first horizontally opposed piston engine.