Mercedes-Benz

Lore & Background

Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to Carl Benz's first internal combustion engine in a car, seen in the Benz Patent-Motorwagen – financed by Bertha Benz's dowry and patented in January 1886 – and Gottlieb Daimler and its engineer Wilhelm Maybach's conversion of a stagecoach, with the addition of a petrol engine, introduced later that year. The Mercedes automobile was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG). Emil Jellinek, an Austrian automobile entrepreneur who worked with DMG, registered the trademark in 1902, naming the 1901 Mercedes 35 hp after his daughter Mercédès Jellinek.

At the Nice race he attended in 1899, Jellinek drove under the pseudonym 'Monsieur Mercédès'. Many consider that race the birth of Mercedes-Benz as a brand. The first Mercedes-Benz branded vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company on 28 June of the same year.

Reader's Guide

In May 2022, Mercedes-Benz announced that it had recently sold the most expensive car at the price of $142 million (€135 million). The car is a very rare 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR that has been kept in the German automaker's collection and bought by a private owner. Mercedes in an announcement said that the sale will be used to establish the Mercedes-Benz Fund.

Did You Know?

• In 2018, Mercedes-Benz became the world’s largest premium vehicle brand, with a sales volume of 2.31 million passenger cars.
• The pontiff's Popemobile has often been sourced from Mercedes-Benz.