The Chequered History of Mercedes-Benz

The Mercedes-Benz 500SL Convertible was the first luxury car I ever drove. I won it in a competition in my early 20s and I instantly fell in love… and I hadn’t even got inside yet! The good news was that the interior was beyond deluxe and the joy when driving it was immense. The bad news was that I’d only won it for 3 days. Reluctantly handing those keys back I was determined to buy one as soon as possible. It took me a few years but I made it happen. 

My love of luxury cars isn’t only refined to the splendour of their looks and thrill of driving them. I’m fascinated by their history and found out some intriguing details when researching Mercedes-Benz.

It all started back in 1886 when Karl Benz invented the main combustion engine in an automobile. The petrol-powered 3-wheeler car was called the Benz Patent Motorwagen, which was funded by Bertha Benz’s dowry and patented in January of 1886. Unknown to Karl Benz, 60 miles away in Southwestern Germany, Gottlieb Daimler, together with Wilhelm Maybach, produced a petrol-powered converted stagecoach. They were similarly unaware of Benz’s work and managed to get one up on him by making the first 4-wheel petrol car in 1889. 

They founded their company Daimler-Motren-Gesellschaft (DMG) and began selling vehicles in 1890. Benz was hot on their heels, creating his first 4-wheeler in 1891. Nine years later, Benz’s firm ‘Benz & Cie’ was the world’s largest automaker.  

The Mercedes logo was first shown on a series of DMG sports cars, but why did they choose the name Mercedes? It came from the daughter of Emil Jellinek, a wealthy entrepreneur and auto racing enthusiast. He specialised in European automobiles and worked alongside Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. 

Jellinek, a businessman and marketing strategist marketed ‘horseless’ Daimler automobiles among his adopted country’s very best circles of society. In case you’re wondering what this ‘horseless’ automobile looks like, here’s a picture of a Daimler Cannstatt, which is a typical example of the ’Horseless Carriage’. One can imagine this vehicle being pulled by horses, underlining how closely related some early cars were to horse-drawn vehicles.

These automobiles were highly desired by Europe’s and France’s ‘Haute Volée’, with the Rothschild family and other well-known personalities among his clients. As early as 1901, Jellinek was selling Mercedes vehicles to American millionaires, such as Rockefeller, Astor, Morgan, and Taylor.

The two companies continued to work independently until 1924. Then, due to the economic difficulties of the First World War, the competitors began cooperating. Within two years they had formally merged to form Daimler-Benz AG. The company’s cars and trucks were then produced under the name of Mercedes-Benz. The merger of the two companies was remarkably successful, and the production of Mercedes-Benz cars exploded to 7,000 in 1927. They soon became industry leaders, and it was after the launch of the prestigious Mercedes-Benz W15 that Mercedes-Benz was created as a separate division under Daimler-Benz AG.

Throughout the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz produced the 770 models, a vehicle that was once enormously famous during Germany’s Nazi period. World War Two was unquestionably a dark period for Mercedes-Benz. It used forced labour, including prisoners of war, for its role in the Nazi war effort.  Workers that went on strike were sent to concentration camps. According to the Daimler website, almost half of their 63,610 workers were forced labourers, prisoners of war, or concentration camp detainees.

They stopped producing cars during this time to help contribute to the war effort, though people didn’t stop driving them. The  Mercedes-Benz 770 was a large luxury car used by high-ranking Nazi officials, including Hitler himself. Unsurprisingly, the  770K he used had mine proof floor armour and bulletproof glass and bodywork. 

After the war, Daimler-Benz admitted their links with the Nazi regime, and attempted atonement with the “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” initiative. They paid $12 million in reparations to the labourer’s families. Perhaps their shame has been reflected (or genuflected) in the fact that Mercedes-Benz has provided the Popemobile on a regular basis.

The few remaining 770’s are in museums or the hands of private buyers. One resides in a German automobile museum, whilst another has a place in a likewise museum in Ottowa. As for one of Hitler’s own 770Ks, since 2009 it has belonged to an unnamed Russian billionaire, who paid several million to secure it.

A few American-based Daimler-Benz dealerships have been transformed into Mercedes-Benz dealerships, after Daimler’s non-Mercedes-partnered corporation closed in 1966. Over the decades, Mercedes-Benz has delivered many digital and mechanical improvements and security elements that later become a familiar feature. 

Today, many consumers will not have forgiven Mercedes-Benz for their Nazi support, but the majority have moved on it is now seen as one of the most popular car manufacturers in the world. It is most well-known for large luxury passenger cars, but similarly has a strong tradition in sports cars, trucks, buses and now electrical vehicles. They are at the forefront of innovation, most recently introducing the Vision Tokyo – a self-driving electric van, powered by a hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell system.

In November 2019, Daimler AG introduced that Mercedes-Benz, up till that factor an agency marque, would be spun off into a separate, wholly-owned subsidiary referred to as Mercedes-Benz AG. The new subsidiary would control the Mercedes-Benz automobile and van business. Mercedes-Benz-badged vehicles and buses would be part of the Daimler Truck AG subsidiary.