The history of the Mercedes-Benz brand is perhaps a little more interesting among all the prominent automotive brands, because this company has countless fans all over the world. Benz is the only brand that is the origin of many events and developments in the automotive industry.
Mercedes-Benz Company celebrated its 64th birthday in 2022. Benz is considered to be the world’s first automobile factory, and the initial steps of its foundation go back even more distant years.
Benz head office
The first Benz car
Mercedes Benz is a German brand that was founded on June 28, 1926, exactly 96 years ago, by Karl Benz with the help of her rival Gottlieb Daimler. The management center of this factory is located in Stuttgart, Germany. From the beginning until today, the products of this company cover a wide range, because its products include luxury cars, vans, trucks, buses and even ambulances. The history of this popular brand is so bright that in 2018, with sales of more than 2.31 million passenger cars, it was included in the list of the largest car manufacturers in the world. Achieving such a position in the highly competitive automotive industry is not an easy task.
The establishment of this company goes back to the years before 1926. The origins of this German automotive giant stem from the 1901 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft Mercedes model and the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen by Karl Benz. The latter is known as the first car that was powered by an internal combustion engine. The point is that Benz and Daimler were two rivals who never met each other in their lifetime. However, the inventions and ceaseless efforts of each of them eventually led to the formation of this brand. One very interesting point is the company’s slogan, which is very consistent with its history, «either the best or nothing».
Mercedes Benz over time
The world’s first motorcycle
If it wasn’t for the presence of some geniuses, the birth and life of the automotive industry might have been delayed for years. These geniuses were named Benz, Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, each of them in their turn, contributed greatly not only to the automobile industry, but also to the development of the world.
The acquaintance, friendship and cooperation between Daimler and Maybach is a turning point in the history of this company, because Maybach later did a great favor to Mercedes-Benz as a talented designer and a follower of Daimler’s path.
In 1882, Daimler started his own workshop with the buyer of a villa. After some time, Maybach also joined him and they focused on building an engine that is suitable and usable for any vehicle. Their relentless efforts led to the creation of a single-cylinder engine known today as the Grandfather Clock.
On the other side of Germany, Karl Benz along with two of his colleagues named Max Casper Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Schlinger, Benz & Co. He founded the Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik, which was later renamed Benz & Cie. in 1899. change found With a lot of effort, they were able to increase the number of employees in their company to 25 people and move the location of the factory to a bigger place. Despite all of Benz’s efforts, Rose and Slinger had no hope for the future of the business. Before leaving the factory and the group, Rose advised Benz not to waste time building the car. Later, this company became the largest engine manufacturing plant in Germany.
In 1885, Daimler and Maybach succeeded in creating a smaller single-cylinder engine using the experience they had gained while making the grandfather clock. By placing this new engine on a fork-shaped bicycle, they succeeded in inventing the «Daimler Riding Car» (Daimler Riding Car), which became the world’s first motorcycle.
By the following year, 1886, the success of the Benz factory had reached such a level that it could devote most of its time to inventing motor vehicles. He succeeded in inventing an engine that could power his «horseless vehicle». He decided to invent a vehicle for his new engine with his own hands; So he designed a three-wheeled product.
The first internal combustion car in history
The first internal combustion car
Some believe that Karl Benz invented the first car in history. Before him, a French captain named Nicolas-Joseph Caño introduced a car powered by a steam engine. In other words, Karl Benz is known in history as the inventor of the first internal combustion car. This car was none other than the Benz Patent Motorwagon, known as the horseless carriage, which hit the streets in 1888.
The engine of this vehicle was single-cylinder and 1.0 liter, and its power did not even reach one horsepower. However, the Motorwagen patent was able to achieve great success thanks to the promotional methods of the Benz family, especially Bertha Benz, who is known as one of the most influential women in the automobile industry.
The interesting thing is that this car had a price of around 600 Marks at the time, which was considered a large amount considering its likeness to a luxury item by the society.
Bertha Benz
Bertha Benz
Benz’s wife was always his support and helper. In fact, it can be said that the life of the automotive industry began when Karl Benz, with the help of his wife Bertha Benz’s investment, invented and registered the Benz patent for the motorwagon. That same year, Daimler and its companion Maybach changed history forever by adding a gasoline engine to a buggy. Bertha Benz was the first woman who agreed to drive a long distance with her husband’s invention to promote the world’s first internal combustion car.
The history of Benz after Daimler
Unfortunately, Daimler’s life was too short to see the first Maybach-designed Mercedes in 1901. This model was introduced to the market in the same year by the famous DMG.
After that, Emil Jelink, who was a European entrepreneur, started his cooperation with DMG and was able to create this trademark in 1902. The Mercedes model had 35 horsepower and Jelink’s maiden name was Mercedes Jelink. So the famous story you have heard about the name Mercedes is true, but some people mistakenly think that Mercedes was the daughter of Karl Benz. Jelinek has a very important role in the history of this company, because he was a well-known businessman who had access to the upper classes of society, and in this way he was able to fit Daimler’s so-called «horseless» cars well among these people. It didn’t take long for famous people and famous families to become his clients.
In 1902, DMG officially became the owner of the successful Mercedes brand. But unfortunately, Mercedes-Benz did not have a well-known trademark. It was then that Daimler’s sons recalled that their father had always used a star as a hyacinth throughout time.
For this reason, the managers of this company decided to present both the three-pointed star and the four-pointed star as trademarks, and finally, the three-pointed star was used as the symbol and logo of the company.
After the First World War, the business (especially the sale of passenger cars, which was considered a luxury), suffered a lot, and only strong companies with sufficient financial power remained. Therefore, many brands and factories had to merge with other companies in order to survive. Finally, Daimler and Benz factories were not spared from the financial crisis of the post-war period and in 1926, they created a new brand called Daimler-Benz AG. Now this brand was able to focus on the right advertising and remaining positive points, in 1926, it introduced the first range of joint products of this new brand. During the 1930s, the brand succeeded in producing the 770 model, which Hitler liked because its glass was bulletproof.
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