Mercedes-Benz 125 years of Innovation : Part 1

This year, two iconic brands will be celebrating their 125th anniversary; Coca Cola and Mercedes-Benz. Not surprisingly, given their heritage, both these brands are some of the most valuable brands in today's market. According to NST's motoring pullout Cars, Bikes and Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia will be organizing a concours style event titled Historics Mercedes-Benz Concours in conjunction the company's worldwide celebration. Numerous global and local marketing events have been lined up all over the world to celebrate not just Mercedes-Benz's 125th birthday, but also, 125 years of motoring, because Mercedes-Benz is the considered to be the inventor of the modern automobile.

I love this tastefully done video, titled "I believe in the horse," compiling quotes of some of the greatest understatements in history, against the backdrop of progress in automotive technology. The story of Mercedes-Benz is a reminder that history belongs to those who make their dreams happen. By the way, does anyone knows the title of this song?

Mercedes-Benz maybe the inventor of the automobile, it is however not the oldest car company in the world. That honor goes to Peugeot. whose history can be traced back to as far back as 1725 when the Peugeot family was active in the industrial milling business, before venturing into bicycles, and eventually motorcars using Daimler engines.

Noticed that we mentioned Mercedes-Benz is "considered" to be the inventor of the modern automobile, implying ambiguity in the area. This is if you were to ask the question who invented the automobile, you may get a different answer, depending on who you ask. The quest for personal freedom and mobility has been pursued from as back as the 15th century.


Sometime around 1478, Leonardo Da Vinci conceptualized a spring wound car about 5 feet long and 4 feet wide, with three wheels. Like all of Da Vinci's designs, it was never actually built. However in 2004, Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy decided to make an actual working design of Da Vinci's "concept car." It was probably the world's first concept car. The car could actually move on its own power, for about 100 meters. So if you would define a car as a vehicle that could move on its own power, then Da Vinci's 1478 design is probably the world's first car design.

In France 1884, Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville patented the design of a 4-wheel steam powered vehicle. But it only managed to be driven half the length of the workshop before exploding spectacularly. Edouard gave up and went into oyster farming. Italian Enrico Bernandi also patented a small engine in 1882 and fitted it to a three wheeled vehicle. But at 0.25 hp, it barely moved.

There were many other inventions that were critical in leading us to the eventual invention of an automobile. The inventors of the car were not inventors of the engine. And how can you have a car without an engine. It was Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir who invented the first commercially viable atmospheric engine in Belgium in 1860. There were patents for internal combustion engines prior to this, but none were feasible commercially. Lenoir built the world's first the first single-cylinder two-stroke engine that ran on mixture of coal gas and air, ignited by a primitive version of today's spark plug.

But Lenoir's invention was far from being powerful enough to power a vehicle. It was German engineer Nicholas Otto who perfected the design further. Otto hired a certain Gottlieb Daimler, and later, Wilhelm Maybach as his engineers. The 4-stroke cycle piston engine was unveiled in the 1878 Paris World Fair. In the pre-Internet and pre-Motor show era, the World Fair is where all the greatest new inventions will be unveiled. At the same time certain Carl Benz was also developing a 2-stroke piston engine and will eventually go on to patent what is accepted by today's standard as the first automobile.

The basic foundation in the collective knowledge of humanity is now complete to foster invention of the automobile. Ferdinand Porsche, father of the VW Beetle and Porsche cars, will also spend a good number of years in Austro-Daimler, precursor of today's Daimler AG. To read about the history of Mercedes-Benz is to read the Genesis of the automotive world. We will cover these in more detail in the subsequent posts.

The video shown earlier appeals to the intellectual group, however Mercedes-Benz also knows how to appeal to pop culture. After all, R&B artists regularly swear by the three pointed star as their ride of choice. During the 2011 Super Bowl, Mercedes-Benz USA commissioned a TV commercial featuring Sean Combs, better known as P. Diddy.

The ad however is still eclipsed by VW's "The Force" ad for the new Passat, which became one of the most watch TV commercial in history. Watch the ad below. How many classic Mercedes models can you Mercedes connoisseurs out there identify and name? Watch the 57 second mark, where the first car in the world, the Carl Benz 1886 patent motorwagen, drives alongside the Mercedes Biome concept. The origin of automotive history, and the future, side by side.


Read the next part of this series, Hitler's Mercedes here.

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