The Mercedes-Benz story

The Mercedes-Benz story goes way back. Here you can read it all: From the birth of the founders, to the establishment of the company, to Mercedes-Benz today - get on board and join us on an exciting journey through Mercedes-Benz history!

• 1834

  On March 17, 1834, Gottlieb Daimler is born in Schorndorf.

• 1844

  Carl Benz is born in Karlsruhe on November 25, 1844.

• 1846

  On February 9, 1846, Wilhelm Maybach is born in Heilbronn.

• 1856

  The Reutlingen Bruderhaus takes in Wilhelm Maybach, as he has become an orphan.

• 1857 - 1859

  Gottlieb Daimler attends the Polytechnic School in Stuttgart.

• 1862 - 1863

  Daimler takes a job as a draftsman in Geislingen and is appointed workshop inspector in a machine factory in Reutlingen at the end of 1863.

• 1865

  Daimler meets Wilhelm Maybach.

• 1871

  After Carl Benz has finished his mechanical engineering studies and worked his way up from locksmith to engineer, he founds the company "Carl Benz and August Ritter, Mechanische Werkstätte" with August Ritter, based in Mannheim. Due to the unreliability of Ritter, Benz pays him off and the two go their separate ways.

• 1872

  Gottlieb Daimler becomes technical director of the Deutz gas engine factory and then learns about Otto's four-stroke principle. Maybach follows him to the Deutz engine works. Bertha and Carl Benz marry on July 20, 1872 (Bertha Benz is later the first person to drive a long distance in a gasoline-powered automobile - known today as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route).

• 1873

  Wilhelm Maybach is appointed chief designer.

• 1878

  Carl Benz is intensively engaged in a two-stroke engine based on gas engine to realize his idea of a horseless vehicle. On New Year's Eve 1879, the engine works satisfactorily for the first time.

• 1882

  Daimler leaves the gas engine factory after differences with the management. As a result, Maybach follows him to Cannstatt to develop lightweight, high-speed internal combustion engines. Carl Benz founds the "Gasmotorenfabrik Mannheim" as a joint stock company, but is only involved with 5 percent and limited in his influence - even in technical matters.

• 1883

  Benz leaves the company. Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Eßlinger become his new business partners. In October 1883, the company "Benz & Cie. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim" is founded. The two-stroke engine "System Benz" appears on the market. The business partners Rose and Eßlinger are uncertain about the future and Benz is forced to find new investors.

• 1884

  Daimler and Maybach succeed in designing the internal combustion engine, known today as the "grandfather clock". This created the basis to install the engine in vehicles. This is the birth of the automobile.

• 1888

  Bertha Benz undertakes the first long-distance journey with a motor-driven vehicle in August 1888 and thus goes down in automotive history.

• 1890

  Daimler founds the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) together with Max Duttenhofer and Wilhelm Lorenz. Maybach is to become chief designer. Julius Ganß and Friedrich von Fischer replace Rose and Eßlinger.

• 1891

  Maybach leaves the company because of unacceptable contract conditions, but continues to work on his mobility concept with the help of a small team in the Cannstatt Hotel Hermann. This project is secretly funded by Daimler.

• 1895

  DMG brings Maybach back, but on one condition - Daimler must also come back. Because of Maybach's Phoenix engine, the Daimler engine becomes very famous abroad. A group of English industrialists is interested in acquiring the licensing rights for 350,000 marks. Maybach was appointed Technical Director and Daimler was given the position of Expert Advisor and Inspector General on the Supervisory Board. The designs, which were developed by Maybach in the Cannstatt Hotel, can now be integrated into series production.

• 1898

  Emil Jellinek distributes Daimler automobiles and also entered them in car races.

• 1899

  The first racing car, the Daimler "Phoenix" is driven by Emil Jellinek. Herewith in time to participate in the Nice Race Weeks in March 1899.

• 1900

  Gottlieb Daimler dies on March 6, 1900 due to a heart condition.

• 1903

  Max von Duttenhofer dies. After his death, Maybach's position in the company increasingly loses importance.

• 1906

  Carl Benz founds the company "Carl Benz Söhne" based in Ladenburg.

• 1907

  Wilhelm Maybach bitterly leaves the DMG and then builds vehicles with his sons under their own name.

• 1912

  Benz leaves the company as a shareholder and hands over the leadership scepter to his sons.

• 1926 - 1929

  Carl Benz is a member of the supervisory board in the newly founded Daimler-Benz AG, which is founded and registered as a trademark due to the great boom in motorization.

• 1929

  On April 4, 1929, Carl Benz passes away.
  On December 29, 1929, Wilhelm Maybach dies in Cannstatt.

• 1933 - 1945

  Daimler-Benz produces military vehicles, tanks, marine and aircraft engines for the war period. Due to the war, many plants have to close, including the main plant Untertürkheim. The plant in Sindelfingen has almost no more covered buildings and the Mannheim plant is also destroyed to a third.

• 1951

  After the war, Daimler-Benz brings out many innovations that ensure safety in the automobile. So comes 1951 the safety passenger cell with crumple zones on the market.

• 1955

  In New York, Daimler-Benz of North America Inc. is founded as an independent subsidiary. Here, mainly commercial vehicles are to be produced.

• 1957

  Paul Bracq starts as a designer at Mercedes-Benz and stays with the company for ten years. During this time, Bracq brings out models like the Pagoda, the Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman or the Stroke 8.

• 1958

  On January 13, 1958, Bruno Sacco is hired as a stylist at Mercedes. He later became the face of the Mercedes SL.

• 1959 - 1981

  The wedge pin door lock, the safety passenger cell with crumple zones, the wedge pin door lock, the anti-lock braking system (ABS), the airbag and the seat belt tensioner are developed.

• 1986

  Daimler-Benz celebrates its 100th anniversary as a company. To celebrate, there is the exhibition "100 years of the automobile" in Stuttgart, which is later shown in several European countries.

• 1998

  Daimler-Benz and Chrysler merge to form DaimlerChrysler AG.

• 2007

  Chrysler is sold after billions in losses, the company is now called Daimler AG.

• 2012 - 2013

  Mercedes-Benz records record sales in both years with 1,461,680 cars sold.

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