Obama's auto faux pas leads to history lesson

— -- President Obama, who will decide the fate of struggling Detroit automakers, may need to brush up on his industry history.

In promising support in his speech to Congress Tuesday, he said, "I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it."

Actually, history — and the U.S. Library of Congress — credits Germany.

"It's a fact that Daimler invented the car," says Han Tjan, U.S. spokesman for the German automaker. "If someone says the U.S. invented the car, either it's an incomplete statement or sloppy research."

Daimler traces its roots to Germans Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. The Library of Congress and other histories credit Benz with the first internal combustion-powered car, a three-wheeler, in 1885. Daimler and partner Wilhelm Maybach fielded a four-wheeler in 1886. Their operations merged into Daimler-Benz, now Daimler.

Massachusetts brothers Charles and Frank Duryea built a car in 1893 and later created a factory that built cars from one set of plans, instead of custom-building. That's considered the start of the U.S. auto industry. Henry Ford hit the road in 1896.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, in an e-mail, cited the Duryeas as first, but added, "There may be some question about who invented the car, but make no mistake, we still make the best cars right here in America." She said the president was encouraging Americans "to remember our rich history of ingenuity."

While not as dramatic as when Vice President Al Gore appeared to take credit for inventing the Internet — "I took the initiative in creating the Internet," he told CNN in 1999 — the gaffe came as the auto industry looks to the administration to understand why it needs emergency loans.

General Motors has borrowed $13.4 billion and seeks $16.6 billion more. Chrysler has borrowed $4 billion and says it needs an additional $5 billion. An administration task force will decide their fate.

Auto industry folks say that, after a day to chew on it, they don't think the misstatement is indicative of the administration's depth of knowledge about the business. "When we talked about it today, we said it was a very strong statement. When you make a speech, you try to make the strongest statement you can," says Gloria Bergquist, spokeswoman at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents most major automakers.