Mercedes-Benz

==History==
{{See also|List of companies involved in the Holocaust|Diesel emissions scandal}}
[[File:Carl-Benz coloriert.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Karl Benz]] (1844–1929) made the 1886 [[Benz Patent Motorwagen]], which is widely regarded as the first automobile.]]
Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to [[Karl Benz]]'s first internal combustion engine in a car, seen in the Benz Patent Motorwagen – financed by [[Bertha Benz]]'s dowry<ref name=EAHF>{{cite web|last=Auer|first=Georg|title=A genius whose three-wheeler is seen as the first car|url=http://www.autonews.com/files/euroauto/inductees/benz.htm|publisher=European Automotive Hall of Fame|access-date=14 September 2013|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065921/http://www.autonews.com/files/euroauto/inductees/benz.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and patented in January 1886<ref name=MBoverview>{{cite web |archive-date=1 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090301042155/http://www.edmunds.com/mercedesbenz/history.html |url=http://www.edmunds.com/mercedesbenz/history.html |title=Mercedes-Benz History |publisher=Edmunds.com |access-date=26 September 2010}}</ref> – and [[Gottlieb Daimler]] and their engineer [[Wilhelm Maybach]]'s conversion of a stagecoach, with the addition of a petrol engine, introduced later that year. The [[Mercedes (marque)|Mercedes]] automobile was first marketed in 1901 by [[Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft]] (DMG).

[[Emil Jellinek-Mercedes]], a Jewish-Austrian automobile entrepreneur who worked with DMG, registered the trademark in 1902, naming the 1901 Mercedes 35&nbsp;hp after his daughter [[Mercedes Jellinek]]. Jellinek was a businessman and marketing strategist who promoted "horseless" Daimler automobiles among the highest circles of society. At the time, it was a meeting place for the ''haute volée'' of France and Europe, especially in winter. His customers included the  [[Rothschild family]] and other wealthy clients, but as early as 1901, he was selling Mercedes cars in the "[[New World]]" as well, including to billionaires [[Rockefeller family|Rockefeller]], [[Astor family|Astor]], [[Morgan family|Morgan]], and Taylor. At the Nice race he attended in 1899, Jellinek drove under the pseudonym "Monsieur Mercédès". Many consider that race the birth of Mercedes-Benz as a brand. In 1901, the name "Mercedes" was re-registered by DMG worldwide as a protected trademark. The first Mercedes-Benz branded vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company on 28 June of the same year.<ref name=MBoverview/><ref name=Markenregister/>

[[File:Gottlieb Daimler 1890s2.jpg|thumb|left|170px|[[Gottlieb Daimler]] (1834–1900) – founder of [[Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft]]]]
Gottlieb Daimler was born on 17 March 1834 in Schorndorf. After training as a gunsmith and working in France, he attended the Polytechnic School in Stuttgart from 1857 to 1859. After completing various technical activities in France and England, he started working as a draftsman in Geislingen in 1862. At the end of 1863, he was appointed workshop inspector at a machine-tool factory in Reutlingen, where he met Wilhelm Maybach in 1865.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schildberger |first=Friedrich |title=Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach and Karl Benz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-s6AAAAMAAJ&q=Gottlieb+Daimler++machine+tool+factory+in+Reutlingen, |url-status=live |publisher=Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft |date=18 July 2007 |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003125811/https://books.google.com/books?id=K-s6AAAAMAAJ&q=Gottlieb+Daimler++machine+tool+factory+in+Reutlingen%2C |archive-date=3 October 2020}}</ref>

Throughout the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz produced the [[Mercedes-Benz 770|770]] model, a car that was notably popular throughout Germany's [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] period. [[Adolf Hitler]] was known to have driven in a model of this car during his time in power, with modified custom [[bulletproof]] windshields.<ref>{{cite news |last=Klara |first=Robert |title=Hitler's car exerts grim fascination even if it just gave the Führer a lift to the airport |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/13/hitler-car-exerts-grim-fascination |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=13 September 2015 |access-date=31 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407133056/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/13/hitler-car-exerts-grim-fascination |archive-date=7 April 2019}}</ref> Most of the currently surviving 770 models were sold at auctions to private buyers. One of the cars is currently on display at the [[Canadian War Museum|War Museum]] in Ottawa, [[Ontario]].<ref name="Junk Jet n°2">{{cite book|title=Junk Jet n°2|url=https://books.googlRoberte.com/books?id=rdZgzlI31W0C&pg=PA6|publisher=igmade.edition|pages=6–|id=GGKEY:W6X3P50T22D|access-date=15 May 2016|archive-date=29 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329122224/https://books.google.com/books?id=rdZgzlI31W0C&pg=PA6|url-status=live}}</ref>

From 1937 onward, Daimler Benz focused increasingly on military products such as the [[Mercedes-Benz L 3000|LG3000 lorry]] and the [[Daimler-Benz DB 600|DB600]] and the [[Daimler-Benz DB 601|DB601]] aero engines. To build the latter, in 1936, it built a factory hidden in the forest at [[Ludwigsfelde#Economy and infrastructure|Genshagen]] around 10&nbsp;km south of [[Berlin]]. By 1942, the company had mostly stopped producing cars, and was now devoted to war production. According to its statement, in 1944, almost half of its 63,610 employees were forced labourers, prisoners of war, or concentration-camp detainees.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.daimler.com/company/tradition/company-history/1933-1945.html |title=''Mercedes-Benz AG Company History'' Archived copy |access-date=28 September 2020 |archive-date=13 December 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20161213143534/https://www.daimler.com/company/tradition/company-history/1933-1945.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Another source quotes this figure at 46,000. The company later paid $12 million in reparations to the labourers' families.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-12/news/mn-7400_1_million-for-war-war-forced-labor|title=Daimler-Benz to Pay $12 Million for War Forced Labor|date=12 June 1988|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=2 November 2016|archive-date=18 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818211903/http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-12/news/mn-7400_1_million-for-war-war-forced-labor|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1958, the two companies began a partnership to sell their cars in the United States with [[Studebaker#Contract with Curtiss-Wright|Studebaker]]. A few American-based Daimler Benz dealerships were converted into Mercedes-Benz dealerships when Daimler's non-Mercedes-partnered company closed in 1966.

Over the decades, Mercedes-Benz has introduced many electronic and mechanical [[#Innovations|innovations]] and safety features that later became common.<ref name="autogenerated2"/> Currently, Mercedes-Benz is one of the best-known and longest-standing automotive brands in the world. The pontiff's [[Popemobile]] has often been sourced from Mercedes-Benz.<ref name="Junk Jet n°2"/>

In November 2019, Daimler AG announced that Mercedes-Benz, until that point a company marque, would be spun off into a separate, wholly owned subsidiary called Mercedes-Benz AG. The new subsidiary would manage the Mercedes-Benz car and van business. Mercedes-Benz-badged trucks and buses would be part of the Daimler Truck AG subsidiary.<ref name="Daimler structure"/>

For information relating to the three-pointed star symbol of the brand, see under the title [[Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft]], including the merger into Daimler-Benz.

In May 2022, Mercedes-Benz announced that it has recently sold the most expensive car at the price of $142 million (€135 million).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-13 |title=Mercedes Benz 300 SLR: The most expensive classic |url=https://autohangar.com/mercedes-benz-300-slr-the-most-expensive-classic/ |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=Autohangar |language=en-US}}</ref> The car is a very rare 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR that has been kept in the German automaker's collection and bought by a private owner. Mercedes in an announcement said that the sale will be used to establish the Mercedes-Benz Fund.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Peter |last=Valdes-Dapena |title=Mercedes just sold the world's most expensive car for $142 million |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/19/business/mercedes-worlds-most-expensive-car/index.html |access-date=2022-05-20 |website=CNN|date=19 May 2022 }}</ref>

In June 2022, Mercedes-Benz recalled almost one million vehicles built between 2004 and 2015, due to potential problems with their braking system, caused by possible "advanced corrosion".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61701235 | title=Mercedes recalls almost 1m cars over faulty brakes | date=6 June 2022 | publisher=BBC News  |access-date=2022-06-06 }}</ref>