Mercedes-Benz

Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1885 — widely recognised as the world's first true automobile: a vehicle with a petrol-powered internal combustion engine designed specifically for road use. Benz patented the design on January 29, 1886 — a date Mercedes-Benz marks as the birthday of the automobile. Simultaneously, and independently, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach were developing their own petrol engine in Stuttgart, 60 miles away. The two companies would compete for decades before merging.

Emil Jellinek, an Austro-Hungarian diplomat who had become Daimler's primary sales agent, commissioned a new racing car in 1900 and insisted it be named after his daughter, Mercedes. The car was so successful on the racing circuit that Jellinek ordered 36 of them — the largest single automotive order in history at the time — on the condition that Daimler use the Mercedes name on all its models. Mercedes Jellinek herself never drove.

Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie merged in June 1926 to form Daimler-Benz AG — uniting the two companies whose founders had independently invented the automobile forty years earlier. The merger was driven by economic necessity: the post-World War I German economy was devastated. The combined company adopted the three-pointed star — representing Daimler's ambition to motorise land, sea, and air — as its emblem.

Mercedes-Benz returned to motorsport in 1954 after a hiatus following World War II, winning both the Formula One and sports car world championships in its first season back. The 300 SL Gullwing road car, launched simultaneously, became one of the most iconic automobiles ever built — its distinctive upward-opening doors necessitated by the space frame chassis structure. The 300 SL was the fastest production car in the world in 1954.

Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler in 1998 in a $38 billion deal described as a "merger of equals." It was not equal. German executives gradually took control, cultural clashes were severe, and Chrysler lost billions. Daimler sold Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus Capital in 2007 for $7.4 billion — having paid $36 billion to acquire it nine years earlier. The company refocused entirely on Mercedes-Benz and repositioned toward ultra-luxury, reducing volume and increasing margins. By the mid-2020s, Mercedes-Benz had become one of the most profitable automotive brands in the world — generating margins that would have been unthinkable when Chrysler was bleeding billions.