Mercedes Timeline

Here you will find an overview of Daimler AG’s 125-year history, from the beginnings of the automobile with Benz Patent Motorcar through to fuel cells and electric cars. From Gottlieb Daimler’s experimental workshop in his garden shed to a global corporation providing personal mobility in more than 200 countries throughout the world.

Beginnings of the automobile: the predecessor companies (1886-1920)

Few inventions have influenced the world's development as deeply as the invention of the automobile. The pioneers of automobile manufacture in the outgoing 19th century were Gottlieb Daimler (1834-1900) and Carl Benz (1844-1929).

Daimler-Benz between the wars: merger and world economic crisis (1920-1933)

The end of the First World War raised great challenges for the German motor vehicle industry. In the years from 1914 to 1919 hardly any development work had been car-ried out on civilian products.

Daimler-Benz in the Nazi Era (1933-1945)

From 1937, Daimler-Benz AG increasingly produced armament items such as the LG 3000 truck, and aircraft engines such as the DB 600 and DB 601. To create additional capacity for aircraft engine production in addition to the Marienfelde plant, the Genshagen plant was built.

Reconstruction (1945-1949)

The assessment of the war damage in 1945 was disillusioning for the company – under the Potsdam Agreement all German assets abroad were confiscated and used for the payment of reparations. Daimler-Benz lost all foreign subsidiaries, affiliates and branches as well as all assets in the Soviet-occupied areas.

Economic miracle and return to the world market (1949-1960)

In the period from 1949 to 1960, in the strongly growing German automobile industry Daimler-Benz AG succeeded in regaining the position which it had maintained before the Second World War.

Growth in all areas: from the 1960s to the mid-1980s

Daimler-Benz, all-rounder in the vehicle industry, defended its outstanding position in the international motor vehicle markets in the 1960s and 1970s while the overall industry was subject to sharp fluctuations in sales. In Europe, Daimler-Benz was leader both in the production of cars for discriminating requirements as well as trucks and buses.

Integrated technology group: change in corporate strategy (1984-1995)

The second oil crisis at the end of the 1970s, the beginning environmental discus-sion, and the advance of new Asian competitors changed the basic conditions for the further development of the company.

"World Corp." vision: the merger between Daimler and Chrysler (1995-2007)

In 1995 the new Chairman of the Board of Management, Jürgen E. Schrempp, initiated a strategic realignment of the group since many of the existing business units were not in a favourable competitive position.

Daimler AG since 2007

As a result of the real estate crisis in the USA a worldwide recession set in. Having only hit the finance sector at the start, it escalated at the end of 2008 into a global economic crisis that deeply affected the worldwide automobile industry.