Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of luxury cars, buses, coaches, and trucks. It is currently a division of the parent company, Daimler AG (formerly DaimlerChrysler AG), after previously being owned by Daimler-Benz. Mercedes-Benz has its origins in Karl Benz's creation of the first petrol-powered motorcycle in January 1886, and by Gottlieb Daimler and engineer Wilhelm Maybach's conversion of a 1873 Bollée steam-engine car by the addition of a petrol engine the same year. The Mercedes car was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. The first Mercedes-Benz brand name vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz's and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company. Mercedes-Benz has introduced many technological and safety innovations that have become common in other vehicles several years later.
The newly created car company, Mercedes-Benz, needed a new image symbolising their enterprise union. Their iconic three-pointed star is pervasive and unmistakably recognised around the world. But its design has evolved in many ways since the company merged in 1926.
In 1958, Mercedes-Benz entered into a distribution agreement with the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana (USA), makers of Studebaker and Packard brand cars. Under the deal, Studebaker would allow Mercedes-Benz access to its dealer network in the U.S., handle shipments of vehicles to the dealers, and in return, receive compensation for each car sold.
Mercedes-Benz maintained an office within the Studebaker works in South Bend from 1958 to 1963, when Studebaker's U.S. operations ceased. Many U.S Studebaker dealers converted to Mercedes-Benz dealerships at that time. When Studebaker closed its Canadian operation and left the car business in 1966, remaining Studebaker dealers had the option to convert their dealerships to Mercedes-Benz dealership agreements.
Mercedes-Benz AMG became a majority owned division of Mercedes-Benz in 1998. The company was integrated into DaimlerChrysler in 1999, and became Mercedes-Benz AMG beginning on 1 January 1999.
Mercedes-Benz has a full range of passenger, light commercial and heavy commercial equipment. Production is on a global basis. The Smart marque of city cars has also been part of the Mercedes-Benz Group since 1994.
The two companies which were merged to form the Mercedes-Benz brand in 1926 had both already enjoyed success in the new sport of motor racing throughout their separate histories - both had entries in the very first car race Paris to Rouen 1894. This has continued, and throughout its long history, the company has been involved in a range of motorsport activities, including sports car racing and rallying.
In Formula One, the company part-owns Team McLaren, and has supplied the team with engines engineered by Ilmor since 1995. This partnership has brought success, including Drivers Championships in 1998, 1999 and in 2008, as well as a Constructors Championship in 1998. The collaboration with McLaren has been extended into the production of roadgoing cars such as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.
In 2009, newly conceived Formula One team Brawn GP used Mercedes engines to help win the Constructor's Championship and F1 Drivers' Championship. It also sold back its 40% stake in McLaren to the McLaren Group and now owns 70% of the Brawn GP team jointly with an Abu Dubai based investment consortium. Brawn GP will be renamed Mercedes Grand Prix in 2010.
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. On the 2009 IAA in Frankfurt, Germany, Mercedes officially introduced the SLS AMG, a revival of the 300SL Gullwing, and the first car to be developed by AMG.