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. 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 automobiles. McLaren ceased production of the SLR in 2009 and went on to develop its own car, the McLaren MP4-12C, launched in 2011. The company was integrated into DaimlerChrysler in 1999, and became Mercedes-Benz AMG beginning on 1 January 1999.īetween 20 Mercedes-Benz produced a limited-production sports car with McLaren Cars, an extension of the collaboration by which Mercedes engines are used by the Team McLaren-Mercedes Formula One racing team, which is part owned by Mercedes. Mercedes-Benz AMG became a majority owned division of Mercedes-Benz in 1998. For information relating to the famous 3-pointed star, see under the title Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft including the merger into Daimler-Benz.Īs part of the Daimler AG company, the Mercedes-Benz Cars division includes Mercedes-Benz, Smart and Maybach car production. Mercedes-Benz is one of the most well-known and established automotive brands in the world, and is also the world's oldest automotive brand still in existence today.
Mercedes-Benz has introduced many technological and safety innovations that later became common in other vehicles. 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. The Mercedes automobile was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to Karl Benz's creation of the first petrol-powered car, the Benz Patent Motorwagen, patented in January 1886 and Gottlieb Daimler and engineer Wilhelm Maybach's conversion of a stagecoach by the addition of a petrol engine later that year.