What was the first 4x4 car in the world?

Ferdinand Porsche designed and built a four-wheel driven electric vehicle for the K.U.K Hofwagenfabrik Ludwig Lohner & Co. At Vienna in 1899, presented to the public during the 1900 World Exhibition at Paris. The vehicle was powered by an electric hub motor at each wheel. Although clumsily heavy, the vehicle proved a powerful sprinter and record-breaker in the hands of its owner E.W. Hart. Due to its unusual status the so-called Lohner Porsche is not widely credited as the first four-wheel driven automobile.

The first four-wheel drive car, as well as hill-climb racer, with internal combustion engine, the spyker 60hp, was presented in 1903 by Dutch brothers Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker of Amsterdam. The two-seat sports car, which was also the first ever car equipped with a six-cylinder engine, is now an exhibit in the Louwman Collection at Raamsdonksveer in The Netherlands.