 Benz's sons Eugen and Richard left Benz & Cie. in 1903, but Richard returned to the company in 1904 as the designer of passenger vehicles.That year, sales of Benz & Cie. reached 3,480 automobiles, and the company remained the leading manufacturer of automobiles.Along with continuing as a director of Benz & Cie., Karl Benz would soon found another company, "C. Benz Söhne", (with his son Eugen and closely held within the family), a privately held company for manufacturing automobiles.