Rudolf Caracciola – one of the greatest GP drivers in history drove MB
Silver Arrows
Silver Arrows (german: link=no, Silberpfeil) was the nickname given by the press to Germany's dominant Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix motor racing cars between 1934 and 1939. The name was later applied to the Mercedes-Benz Formula ...
in competition.
*
Josef Ganz - Technical consultant and "Godfather" of the *
Mercedes-Benz W136, with the revolutionary Independent suspension,
Swing axle layout.
*
Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio (American Spanish: , ; 24 June 1911 – 17 July 1995), nicknamed ''El Chueco'' ("the bowlegged" or "bandy legged one") or ''El Maestro'' ("The Master" or "The Teacher"), was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated t ...
- Five-time Formula 1 World Champion, honorary president of Mercedes-Benz Argentina from 1987 until his death in 1995.
*
Michael Schumacher - Seven-time
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Champion, drove for Mercedes in the
World Endurance Championship World Endurance Championship may refer to:
* FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series held since 2012
* World Sportscar Championship, an auto racing series which used the title World Endurance Championship from 1981 to 1985
* Endura ...
in the 80s and then in their
Formula One Team from
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
till
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
.
*
Lewis Hamilton - Seven-time
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Champion
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
, current driver for their
Formula One Team since
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
who holds the all-time record for most pole positions () and race victories (). Despite being a Mercedes driver since 2013, Hamilton has competed his entire career using Mercedes engines since 2007 and has been affiliated with Mercedes since he was 13 years old.
*
Nico Rosberg - 2016
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
World Champion, drove for Mercedes in their
Formula One Team from
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
till
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
. Rosberg won all his races and achieved all his pole positions with Mercedes and is currently a brand ambassador for Mercedes.
Innovations
Numerous technological innovations have been introduced on Mercedes-Benz automobiles throughout the many years of their production, including:
* The
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
automobile was developed independently by Benz and Daimler & Maybach in 1886.
* Daimler invented the honeycomb radiator of the type still used on all water-cooled vehicles today.
* Daimler invented the float
carburetor
A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meteri ...
which was used until replaced by
fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All comp ...
.
* The "drop chassis" – the car originally designated the "Mercedes" by Daimler was also the first car with a modern configuration, having the carriage lowered and set between the front and rear wheels, with a
front engine and
powered rear wheels. All earlier cars were "horseless carriages", which had high centres of gravity and various engine/drive-train configurations.
* The first passenger road car to have
brake
A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a moving vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion, most often accomplished by means of friction.
Background ...
s on all four wheels (1924).
* In 1936, the
Mercedes-Benz 260 D
The Mercedes-Benz 260 D, coded Mercedes-Benz W 138 according to internal works designation, was one of the first three diesel engined series produced passenger cars, together with 1933 Citroën Rosalie 11UD and the diesel version of the Hanomag Re ...
was the first diesel-powered passenger car.
* Mercedes-Benz were the first to offer direct fuel injection on the
Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing.
* The "safety cage" or "
safety cell" construction with front and rear
crumple zones was first developed by Mercedes-Benz in 1951. This is considered by many as the most important innovation in automobile construction from a safety standpoint.
* In 1959, Mercedes-Benz patented a device that prevents drive wheels from spinning by intervening at the engine, transmission, or brakes. In 1987, Mercedes-Benz applied for its patent by introducing a
traction control system that worked under both braking and acceleration.
* An
anti-lock braking system
An anti-lock braking system (ABS) is a safety anti-skid braking system used on aircraft and on land vehicles, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, and buses. ABS operates by preventing the wheels from locking up during braking, thereby maintaini ...
(ABS) was first offered on the W116 450SEL 6.9. They became standard on the W126 S-Class starting production in 1979 and first sold in most markets in 1980.
*
Airbag
An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate extremely quickly, then quickly deflate during a collision. It consists of the airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. Th ...
s were first introduced in the European market, beginning with the model year 1981 S-Class.
* Mercedes-Benz was the first to introduce pre-tensioners to
seat belt
A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt reduc ...
s on the 1981 S-Class. In the event of a crash, a pre-tensioner will tighten the belt instantaneously, removing any 'slack' in the belt, which prevents the occupant from jerking forward in a crash.
* In September 2003, Mercedes-Benz introduced the world's first seven-speed
automatic transmission
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving c ...
called '
7G-Tronic'.
*
Electronic Stability Programme (ESP),
brake assist, and many other types of safety equipment were all developed, tested, and implemented into passenger cars – first – by Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz has licensed some of its innovations for use by competitors. As a result, crumple zones and ABS are now standard on all modern vehicles.
* The
(W211) E320 CDI which has a
variable geometry turbocharger (VGT) 3.0-litre
V6 common rail
Common rail direct fuel injection is a direct fuel injection system built around a high-pressure (over ) fuel rail feeding solenoid valves, as opposed to a low-pressure fuel pump feeding unit injectors (or pump nozzles). High-pressure injection ...
diesel engine (producing ), set three world
endurance records. It covered in a record time, with an average speed of . Three identical cars did the endurance run (one set above record) and the other two cars set world records for time taken to cover and respectively. After all three cars had completed the run, their combined distance was (all records were FIA approved).
* Mercedes-Benz pioneered a system called
Pre-Safe to detect an imminent crash – and prepares the car's safety systems to respond optimally. It also calculates the optimal braking force required to avoid an accident in emergency situations and makes it immediately available for when the driver depresses the brake pedal. Occupants are also prepared by tightening the seat belt, closing the sunroof and windows, and moving the seats into the optimal position.
* At 181 horsepower per litre, the M133 engine installed in Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG was (as of June 2013) the most powerful series-production four-cylinder turbocharged motor, and has one of the highest power densities of a passenger vehicle.
Mercedes-Benz won the Safety Award at the 2007 ''What Car?'' Awards.
Robot cars
In the 1980s Mercedes built the world's first robot car, together with the team of Professor
Ernst Dickmanns
Ernst Dieter Dickmanns is a German pioneer of dynamic computer vision and of driverless cars. Dickmanns has been a professor at Bundeswehr University Munich (1975–2001), and visiting professor to Caltech and to MIT, teaching courses on "dynamic ...
at
Bundeswehr University Munich
image:Eingangsbereich der Universität der Bundeswehr München.jpg, 200px, Entrance to the university
Bundeswehr University Munich (german: Universität der Bundeswehr München, UniBw München) is one of two research universities in Germany at fe ...
. Encouraged in part by Dickmanns' success, in 1987 the European Union's
EUREKA programme initiated the
Prometheus Project on autonomous vehicles, funded to the tune of nearly €800 million. In 1995 Dickmanns' re-engineered autonomous
S-Class Mercedes took a long trip from
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
in Bavaria to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in Denmark, and back. On highways, the robot achieved speeds exceeding (permissible in some areas of the German
Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
).
In October 2015, the company introduced the Vision Tokyo, a five-seat self-driving electric van powered by a hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell system. The super-sleek van is touted as "a chill-out zone in the midst of megacity traffic mayhem."
Tuners
Several companies have become
car tuner
Car tuning is the modification of a car to optimise it for a different set of performance requirements from those it was originally designed to meet. Most commonly this is higher engine performance and dynamic handling characteristics but cars m ...
s (or modifiers) of Mercedes Benz, in order to increase performance and/or luxury to a given model.
AMG is Mercedes-Benz's in-house performance-tuning division, specialising in high-performance versions of most Mercedes-Benz cars. AMG engines are all hand-built, and each completed engine receives a tag with the signature of the engineer who built it. AMG has been wholly owned by Mercedes-Benz since 1999. The 2009
SLS AMG, a revival of the 300SL Gullwing, is the first car to be entirely developed by AMG.
Sponsorships
In
football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
, Mercedes-Benz sponsored the
Germany national team until 2018. Mercedes-Benz sponsors
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
club
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...
and provides the naming rights for their stadium, the
Mercedes-Benz Arena. The company formerly held a ten-year naming rights contract to the
Caesars Superdome
The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...
, an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
stadium in
, from 2011 to 2021. On 24 August 2015, Mercedes-Benz was announced as the naming rights sponsor for the
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...
' new home,
Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) ...
, (Mercedes-Benz's US headquarters are in
Greater Atlanta) which opened in August 2017.
Mercedes-Benz worked with English magician Steven Frayne, also known as
Dynamo, to create a video called Dynamo vs Coulthard.
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
driver
David Coulthard drove Dynamo around a track at race-speed in a
Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG, before Dynamo successfully drove around the same track in the same car whilst blindfolded and surrounded by pyrotechnics. The stunt was part of the finale for Series 3 of
Dynamo: Magician Impossible, screened on UK television channel
Watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
.
To promote the release of ''
Mario Kart 8
is a 2014 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It features the '' Mario Kart'' series' game mechanics, in which players drive go-karts using ''Mario'' franchise characters in various race formats. Items placed ...
'',
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
and Mercedes-Benz partnered up to have 3 of their cars in their history, the
2014 Mercedes-Benz GLA, the
1957 SL 300 Roadster, and the
1934 W25 Silver Arrow as karts in the game. As part of the partnership,
Mario
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
,
Luigi, and
Peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
appeared in Japanese commercials to promote the 2014 Mercedes-Benz GLA.
The Mercedes-Benz was chosen by
Mitsubishi Electric
, established on 15 January 1921, is a Japanese multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the core companies of Mitsubishi. The products from MELCO include elevators an ...
as an official sponsor of
AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022, along with
Maspion Holdings,
Wuling
Wuling may refer to:
People
* Xu Wuling (许武岭, born 14 September 1971), professional rower
* Yu Wuling (于武陵, born 810), poet
* Zhang Wuling (张武龄, 1889-1938), educator
* King Wuling of Zhao (趙武靈王, 340-295 BCE), ruler of th ...
,
Gree,
Yanmar and Tiger Brokers.
See also
*
Bertha Benz
Bertha Benz (; ; 3 May 1849 – 5 May 1944) was a German automotive pioneer and inventor. She was the business partner and wife of automobile inventor Carl Benz. On 5 August 1888, she was the first person to drive an internal-combustion-engined a ...
*
Mercedes-AMG
*
Diesel emissions scandal
From 2014 onwards, software which manipulated air pollution tests was discovered in vehicles from some car makers; the software recognized when the standardized emissions test was being done, and adjusted the engine to emit less during the test. T ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
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{{Authority control
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Car brands
German brands
Mercedes-Benz Group brands and marques
Daimler Truck
Automotive transmission makers
Sports car manufacturers
Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
Bus manufacturers of Germany
Truck manufacturers of Germany
Defence companies of Germany
Diesel engine manufacturers
Multinational companies headquartered in Germany
1926 establishments in Germany
Companies based in Stuttgart
Companies based in Baden-Württemberg
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1926
Emergency services equipment makers
Belgian Royal Warrant holders
German companies established in 1926