Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Mercedes-Benz AG produces consumer luxury vehicles and commercial vehicles badged as Mercedes-Benz. From November 2019 onwards, Mercedes-Benz-badged heavy commercial vehicles (trucks and buses) are managed by Daimler Truck, a former part of the Mercedes-Benz Group that turned into an independent company in late 2021. In 2018, Mercedes-Benz was the largest brand of premium vehicles in the world, having sold 2.31 million passenger cars.

The brand's origins lie in Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft's 1901 Mercedes and Carl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen, which is widely regarded as the first internal combustion engine in a self-propelled automobile. The slogan for the brand is "the best or nothing".

1926–1998: Daimler-Benz

The Mercedes-Benz Group origin is in an Agreement of Mutual Interest signed on 1 May 1924 between Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft . Both companies continued to manufacture their separate automobile and internal combustion engine marques until 28 June 1926, when Benz & Cie. and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft formally merged – becoming Daimler-Benz AG – and agreed that thereafter, all of the factories would use the brand name of "Mercedes-Benz" on their automobiles. The inclusion of the name Mercedes in the new brand name honored the most important model series of DMG automobiles, the Mercedes series, which were designed and built by Wilhelm Maybach. They derived their name from a 1900 engine named after the daughter of Emil Jellinek. Jellinek became one of DMG's directors in 1900, ordered a small number of motor racing cars built to his specifications by Maybach, stipulated that the engine must be named Daimler-Mercedes, and made the new automobile famous through motorsports. That race car later became known as the Mercedes 35 hp. The first of the series of production models bearing the name Mercedes had been produced by DMG in 1902. Jellinek left the DMG board of directors in 1909.

The name of Daimler as a marque of automobiles had been given by Gottlieb Daimler for use by other companies. It is or was used principally by Daimler Motor Company and Austro-Daimler later Steyr-Daimler-Puch but also, very briefly by Daimler Manufacturing Company and Panhard-Daimler, and others. The new company, Daimler-Benz, did not obtain consent to include Daimler in its brand name and used the name Mercedes to represent the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft interest. Karl Benz remained as a member of the board of directors of Daimler-Benz AG until his death in 1929.

Although Daimler-Benz is best known for its Mercedes-Benz automobile brand, during World War II, it also created a notable series of engines for German aircraft, tanks, and submarines. Its cars became the first choice of many Nazi, Fascist Italian, and Japanese officials including Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Hirohito, who most notably used the Mercedes-Benz 770 luxury car. Daimler also produced parts for German arms, most notably barrels for Mauser Kar98k rifles. During World War II, Daimler-Benz had over 60,000 concentration camp prisoners and other forced laborers to build machinery. After the war, Daimler admitted to its links and coordination with the Nazi government.

In 1966, Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH merged with Mercedes-Benz Motorenbau Friedrichshafen GmbH to form Maybach Mercedes-Benz Motorenbau GmbH, under partial ownership by Daimler-Benz. The company is renamed Motoren und Turbinen-Union Friedrichshafen GmbH in 1969.

In 1989, Daimler-Benz InterServices AG was created to handle data processing, financial and insurance services, and real estate management for the Daimler group.In 1995, MTU Friedrichshafen became a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz.

1998–2007: DaimlerChrysler

In a so-called "merger of equals," or "marriage made in heaven", according to its then CEO and architect Jürgen E. Schrempp, Daimler-Benz and United States-based automobile manufacturer Chrysler Corporation, the smallest of the main three American automakers, merged in 1998 in an exchange of shares and formed DaimlerChrysler AG. Valued at US$38 billion, it was the world's largest ever cross-border deal.The terms of the merger allowed Daimler-Benz's non-automotive businesses such as Daimler-Benz InterServices AG, "debis AG" for short, to continue to pursue their respective strategies of expansion. debis AG reported revenues of $8.6 bn in 1997.The merger was contentious with investors launching lawsuits over whether the transaction was the 'merger of equals' that senior management claimed or actually amounted to a Daimler-Benz takeover of Chrysler. A class action investor lawsuit was settled in August 2003 for US$300 million while a suit by billionaire investor activist Kirk Kerkorian was dismissed on 7 April 2005. The transaction claimed the job of its architect, Chairman Jürgen E. Schrempp, who resigned at the end of 2005 in response to the fall of the company's share price following the transaction.Another issue of contention is whether the merger delivered promised synergies and successfully integrated the two businesses. Martin H. Wiggers' concept of a platform strategy like the VW Group, was implemented only for a few models, so the synergy effects in development and production were too low. As late as 2002, DaimlerChrysler appeared to run two independent product lines. Later that year, the company launched products that appeared to integrate elements from both sides of the company, including the Chrysler Crossfire, which was based on the Mercedes SLK platform and utilized Mercedes's 3.2 L V6, and the Dodge Sprinter/Freightliner Sprinter, a re-badged Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van.

In 2000, DaimlerChrysler acquired the Detroit Diesel Corporation and placed its on-highway division under Daimler Trucks North America. The off-highway division was placed under MTU Friedrichshafen to form MTU America. Detroit Diesel branding has been maintained by DTNA and MTU America. In 2005, MTU-Friedrichshafen was sold to the Swedish investment firm EQT Partners. That same year, DaimlerChrysler entered into an alliance with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in an effort to reach the Asian market. The alliance resulted in the platform sharing between the 2002-2013 Colt and first-generation Smart Forfour, but the declining performance of Mitsubishi led DaimlerChrysler to sell its shares back by 2004.Chrysler reported losses of US$1.5 billion in 2006. It then announced plans to lay off 13,000 employees in mid-February 2007, close a major assembly plant and reduce production at other plants in order to restore profitability by 2008.

DaimlerChrysler had reportedly approached other carmakers and investment groups to sell Chrysler in early 2007. General Motors was reported to be a suitor, but Daimler agreed to sell the Chrysler unit to Cerberus Capital Management in May 2007 for US$6 billion and completed the sale on 3 August 2007. Through most of its history, Chrysler has been the smallest of the "Big 3" U.S. automakers, but in January 2007, DaimlerChrysler, excluding its luxury Mercedes and Maybach lines, also outsold traditionally second place Ford, though behind General Motors and Toyota. The original agreement stated that Cerberus would take an 80.1 percent stake in the new company, Chrysler Holding LLC. DaimlerChrysler changed its name to Daimler AG and retained the remaining 19.9% stake in the separated Chrysler LLC.The terms saw Daimler pay Cerberus US$650 million to take Chrysler and associated liabilities off its hands. Of the US$7.4 billion purchase price, Cerberus Capital Management was to invest US$5 billion in Chrysler Holdings and US$1.05 billion in Chrysler's financial unit. The de-merged Daimler AG received US$1.35 billion directly from Cerberus but directly invested US$2 billion in Chrysler itself. Chrysler filed bankruptcy in 2009.DC Aviation rose in 2007 from the previous DaimlerChrysler Aviation, an auxiliary of DaimlerChrysler AG, which was established in 1998.

2007–2022: Daimler AG

In May 2010, the Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd., trading as "Denza" was established between BYD and Daimler to produce luxury electric vehicles.In November 2014, Daimler announced it would acquire 25 percent of Italian motorcycle producer MV Agusta for an undisclosed fee. MV Holding acquired the 25 percent of MV Agusta back from Daimler in December 2017.On 3 August 2015, Nokia announced that it had reached a deal to sell its Here digital maps division to a consortium of three German automakers—BMW, Daimler AG, and Volkswagen Group, for €2.8 billion. This was seen as an indication that the automakers were interested in automated cars.

In 2017, Daimler announced a series of acquisitions and partnerships with car startups focused on car sharing, in a move towards what it sees as the next generation of car ownership and usage. Part of its corporate strategy is to "transition from being an automobile manufacturer to a mobility services provider".In April 2017 it announced a partnership with Via, a New York-based ride-sharing app, to launch a new ride-sharing service across Europe. In September, it was announced that Daimler had led a fundraising round for car-sharing start up Turo, which is a platform that lets owners rent their vehicles out to other users. It also acquired Flinc, a German startup that has built an app for peer-to-peer-style carpooling, has invested in Storedot, Careem, Blacklane and FlixBus, and has acquired car2go and mytaxi . Chinese automobile manufacturer Geely took a 9.69% stake in the company, through a subsidiary, in February 2018, making it the company's largest single shareholder. Geely is already known from its ownership of Volvo Car Corporation. In September 2018, Daimler invested $155 million in US-based electric bus and its battery management technology manufacturer Proterra.In July 2019, BAIC Group purchased a 5% stake in Daimler, which is a reciprocal shareholder in BAIC's Hong Kong listed subsidiary.

In September 2019, Daimler announced that it would be "stopping its internal combustion engine development initiatives as part of its efforts to embrace electric vehicles."In February 2020, Daimler partnered with Twelve to create the world's first C-pillar made with polycarbonate from CO2 electrolysis in an effort towards a fully carbon neutral fleet.In February 2021, Daimler said it planned to rename itself adopting the name of its flagship marque, Mercedes-Benz, and spun off its heavy commercial vehicles unit, Daimler Truck, into a separate listed company. Daimler Truck is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and its first trading day was on 10 December 2021.In the 2021 review of WIPO's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators Daimler ranked 8th in the world, with 65 of its designs in industrial design registrations being published under the Hague System during 2020. This position is up on its previous 10th place ranking in 2019.

2022–present: Mercedes-Benz Group

On 28 January 2022, CEO Ola Källenius announced that Daimler will be rebranded as Mercedes-Benz to pursue a higher valuation for the company as it shifts deeper into electric vehicles packed with digital gadgets. On 1 February 2022, Daimler officially changed its registered company name to Mercedes-Benz Group AG.

Mercedes-Benz’s mission statement says, “We will inspire and create an exceptional place to work and to do business. One employee, one customer, one vehicle at a time. Through our transparent atmosphere, premium auto inventory, and individualized customer care, we create the luxury shopping experience that our customers truly deserve”.

Moreover, Mercedes-Benz is driven by a purpose, “First Move The World,” which also forms the organization’s DNA. It wants to create cars of the future that will transform the meaning of mobility. Also, the company’s motto “The Best or Nothing” reveals how passionate they are about being top-notch. Furthermore, the company wants “to build the world’s most desirable cars.”

Mercedes-Benz vision states, “With our design philosophy of Sensual Purity, we initiated a shift in automotive design.” The company’s main vision is to bring a shift in the automobile industry by designing high-speed cars, splendid engines with automotive transmission, and more.

Models: A-Class Sedan, B-Class Multi Purpose Vehicle, C-Class Compact executive luxury Sedan/Saloon, Estate, Coupé and Cabriolet, CLA Subcompact luxury 4-Door Coupé and Estate, CLS Mid-size luxury 4-Door Coupé, E-Class Mid-size executive luxury Sedan/Saloon, Estate, Coupé and Cabriolet, G-Class Luxury off-road vehicle, GLA Subcompact luxury Crossover, GLB Compact luxury Crossover, GLC Compact luxury Sport utility vehicle, GLE Mid-size luxury Sport utility vehicle, GLK Compact luxury Sport utility vehicle, GLS Full-size luxury Sport utility vehicle, S-Class Full-Size luxury Sedan/Saloon, Coupé and Cabriolet, V-Class Luxury Multi Purpose Vehicle, AMG GT Luxury sports car, AMG GT 4-Door Luxury sports 4-Door Coupé, AMG SL Luxury grand tourer roadster, AMG ONE Super sports car, EQA Luxury electric Crossover, EQB Luxury electric Crossover, EQC Luxury electric Crossover, EQE Luxury electric Sedan/Saloon, EQS Luxury electric Sedan/Saloon, EQE SUV Luxury electric Sport utility vehicle, EQS SUV - Luxury electric Sport utility vehicle, EQV Luxury electric Multi Purpose Vehicle, EQG Luxury electric Off-road vehicle.
Vans: Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Mercedes-Benz currently offers three types of vans; Citan, Vito, and Sprinter. They are all produced by Daimler AG.
Trucks: Mercedes-Benz Zetros used for snowploughing, Unimog, a famous all-round vehicle by Mercedes-Benz.
Buses: Mercedes-Benz has been producing buses since 1895 in Mannheim, Germany. Since 1995, the brands of Mercedes-Benz's buses and coaches are under the umbrella of EvoBus GmbH, since December 2021 belonging to Daimler Truck AG. EvoBus, through its regional subsidiaries, markets them in European countries, while in other regions of the world marketing and sales duties are passed to regional subsidiaries of Daimler Truck. Mercedes-Benz produces a wide range of buses and coaches, mainly for Europe and Asia. The first model was produced by Karl Benz in 1895.
Electric cars: Mercedes opened its sixth battery factory in 2018. Critics deemed the marque's EQS sedan a tough competitor to Tesla, Inc. The six factories are established across three continents.
The brand has also launched its electric EQ brand with the EQC SUV which was set for production in the year 2019. In September 2018, Mercedes unveiled the EQC, its first fully electric car, at an event in Stockholm.
Mercedes unveiled the VISION AVTR at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The car was inspired by the 2009 science fiction film Avatar. Whilst the AVTR is a concept car, it is said to "hold clues on features bound for next-generation Mercedes-Benz cars".
Motorsport: Formula One and Formula E