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Saturday 7 May 2016

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes was a brand in the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) which began to develop in 1901. It was created by Austrian automobile entrepreneur Emil Jellinek who had been racing DMG automobiles under the pseudonym Mercédès, named after his daughter, Mercédès Jellinek.

In 1901, the new Mercedes 35 hp model amazed the automobile world when Jellinek won the Nice races, easily beating his opponents in all the capacity classes and reaching 60 kilometers per hour (37.3 mph). DMG's sales shot up, consolidating its future as a motor car manufacturer—rather than merely an engine manufacturer who built some automobiles.

Mercedes 35 hp

DMG decided to use the Mercedes name as the trade name for its entire line of automobile models, officially registering it on September 26, 1902.

The symbol of Mercedes-Benz is a three-pointed star inside of a circle and was designed by Gottlieb Daimler. The three points of the star stand for land, air and sea because Daimler's engines were used not only in cars and trucks but in airplanes and boats. The symbol was first used in 1909.

Mercedes-Benz's three-pointed star started out as a symbol that Gottlieb Daimler marked his house with on a postcard.

Wikipedia Commons

Daimler Motoren Gesellschaftr and Benz & Cie merged their companies, the world’s oldest car makers on June 28, 1926. The name Mercedes-Benz was applied to all vehicles produced by the new company, Daimler-Benz AG,

On January 28, 1938, a new World Land Speed Record on a public road was set in Germany at 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph). That record, set by Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen, stood until November 5, 2017 when an Agera RS driven by Niklas Lilja, achieved 445.6 km/h (276.9 mph) on a closed highway in Nevada.

The W125 Rekordwagen Caracciola used to reach 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph) in January 1938

Adolf Hitler had a special Mercedes touring car with a special seat which could be raised up so that he could be more easily seen when he rode through the streets.

Hitler's Mercedes-Benz cars only did three miles to the gallon because they were so heavily armoured.

Mercedes-Benz introduced a modest tailfin on its 1959 W111 series of sedans, which gained the nickname "Fintails". The sleek Mercedes-Benz "fintail" was the first production car with crumple zones. Captains of industry could buy the chrome-laden 300SEL model, with air suspension and fuel-injected engine; those on a more stringent budget could fire up the 190 diesel, which retailed at a third of the price.


The Mercedes-Benz G-Class was developed as a result of a suggestion to develop a military vehicle by the Shah of Iran, who at the time was a significant shareholder of the company. It was offered as a civilian version in 1979.

Mercedes-Benz was the first automobile manufacturer to offer a compact disc player as a factory option in 1984.

In 1998 Mercedes-Benz brought Chrysler for $40 billion forming DaimlerChrysler. It was at the time the largest industrial merger in history.

The Mercedes-Benz motto is “Das Beste oder Nichts” which means “the best or nothing."

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