by Harvey Williams
Mercedes Benz is a marque that has throughout the years been associated with luxury and high build quality. When one sees a new Mercedes Benz with it’s beautiful lines driving down the road, its easy to forget that like most manufacturers Mercedes Benz have had their ups and downs, some of them quite recently; Mercedes build quality started to suffer in recent years, it came to the point where contract hire and leasing companies became nervous about recommending them. The model that came in for the most criticism was the M Class.
In a survey carried out by The Consumer Association in 2003, Mercedes was downgraded by two categories, from best to average in reliability. Although to be fair all the German manufacturers came in for criticism, they said, “No major German marques have escaped the steady decline we have noticed in recent years”. Interestingly the manufacturer that received the most complaints from those surveyed was Volkswagen.
The BBC’s Top Gear carried out a survey in 2004; in which they placed the M Class last out of 142 cars surveyed. Since then Mercedes have been making great efforts to restore their good name and reputation and to once again have the Mercedes Benz name associated with high build quality and reliabilty.
Karl Benz was based in Mannheim when he invented what has become known as the world’s first automobile, it was patented in 1886. Benz called it the Benz Patent Motorwagen. It had three wheels which were hardly wider than those of today’s bicycle wheels, the occupants were completely exposed to the elements and subjected to a very bumpy ride. In those days lights to enable the driver to see and be seen, hadn’t been thought of.
Although Karl Benz and Gottleib Daimler, who was also carrying out similar work to Benz, were only about 100 Kilomteres apart, neither was aware of the other’s work. And at about the same time Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach also invented a vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine. It was called the Daimler Riding Car and was used for testing their internal combustion engine, that became known as the Grandfather Clock, so called because of it’s upright cylinder. Although the vehicle was called a car it was in fact a motorcycle, the world’s first motorcycle. It had just one cylinder and a top speed of about 13 Kilometres per hour.
During 1886 Daimler and Maybach launched their Motorised Carraige, again they installed their Grandfather clock engine which was referred to as high-speed, the top speed was about 18 kilometres per hour, although compared to walking it was high-speed. It was the world’s first four wheel car; although Karl Benz had patented his car in the same year, his was a three wheel vehicle. During 1889 Daimler exhibited another car that became known as the wire wheel car, at an exhibition in Paris. It certainly attracted a lot of attention, it is said that seeing this vehicle, is what started the French motor industry.
In 1890’s Karl Benz was building two, three and four seater vehicles but now with four wheels. He had developed the steering system so that the two front wheels could turn on a different radius, making the car much more stable.
Benz developed the two seater Velocipide in 1894, it had two seats and was capable of 20 KPH. He sold a large number; some 1200, which in those days was a considerable number. He had less success with his motorized bus; roads were still in poor condition, this combined with the vehicle’s narrow wheels made it quite impractical. It had probably not occurred to anyone at the time, that wider wheels would have made a big difference.
A two cylinder belt driven car was brought out by Daimler in 1896. The two cylinders didn’t help much with it’s top speed, which was 18 mph. The world’s first truck was produced byDaimler, it was a flat bed truck. The fact that it was only capable of 11 Kilometres per hour, didn’t stop it being very popular, they were used mainly for deliveries, even Britain imported some of these vehicles. Daimler launced a new goods vehicle, it could transport loads of 500 Kilograms. It was similar in appearance to one of the covered, dome shaped, horse drawn wagons from the days of the wild west.
In 1899 Benz launched what was known as the Dos a Dos car where two passengers sat facing forward and two facing back, the car had an impressive speed of over 35 kilometres per hour.
When Daimler died in 1990, control of the company passed to William Maybach. A very succesful motor racing driver and businessman, Emil Jellinek told Maybach that he should produce cars that were faster and more modern in design. He also asked Maybach to call his cars Mercedes; his young daughter’s name. This is where the name Mercedes, that the cars still carry today, originated.
A number of more modern and faster car were produced by Daimler, in the early 1900’s. There was the 40 horsepower Mercedes Simplex that suceeded the 35 horsepower model. It was a single seater car with a top speed of 80 Kilometres per hour by now the car had 4 cylinders. One of these models is believed to be the oldest Mercedes still in existence.
The 18 horsepower Double Phaeton was launched by Benz in 1905,then in 1907 the six cylinder 75 hp Double Phaeton. Its top speed exceeded 94 kilometres per hour, very fast for its day. By now Benz was enjoying success in motor racing, as were Mercedes.
During the First World War both Benz and Daimler’s production were converted into producing materials for the war effort. The German economy suffered badly at the end of the war, there was a shortage of fuel and a heavy luxury tax had been placed on car production, inflation was starting to get out of control. The cost of a car became so high it was out of most people’s reach. A far cry from today where a luxury Mercedes can be found on contract hire from around 300 per month.
Benz’s financial position had been seriously weakened; it is believed that Daimler made an approach to Benz, with a proposal of merging but it did not proceed. By 1924 both companies were suffering financially and an agreement was signed and the companies were finally merged in 1926.
When car production started again, the Mercedes two seater sports car was launched. It had a supercharged engine and a top speed of over 108 kilometres per hour. During 1927 Mercedes Benz started production of the Model S touring car, the S stood for sport. The vehicle had six cylinder and an amazing speed of over 160 kilometres per hour. 1928 saw the introduction of the SSK Sports two seater, it was designed for hill climbing races and was even faster at over 190 kilometres per hour.
The next really spectacular car produced by Mercedes Benz was the Mercedes-Benz 500K, in 1934. The Special Roadster was the most popular version with long sleek lines, it would still be considered by most today, as a beautiful car. It had eight cylinders and a top speed of 160 Kilometres per hour. It was really very expensive at 28,000 Marks and only for the seriously rich.
The successor to the 500k was the 540K. It was very similar in appearance but a little faster at about 170 kilometres per hour. At the same time Mercedes Benz were producing the Mercedes- Benz 770, a large luxury limousine that the heads of industry would often have as their chauffeur driven vehicle. In these times quite surprisingly low numbers of some of the models were produced; approaching 420 of 540K were made and fewer than 120 of the Mercedes- Benz 770.
Mercedes were accused of using forced labour and prisoners of war, for their manufacturing, during the Second World War. They had become part of the German war effort but of course it wasn’t a matter of choice; the British motor manufacturers were also part of the British War effort. The allied bombers, just as the German bombers targeted factories in Britain, heavily targeted the Mercedes manufacturing plants. At the end of the war, things looked very bleak for Mercedes; their factories lay in ruins, the machinery was damaged or destroyed and there was an extreme shortage of raw materials. Nevertheless in 1948 production was re started. 1951 saw the introduction of the 300 saloon, over 4500 were sold. The Mercedes Benz 300S convertible also went into production.
The motoring world didn’t quite know what had hit them, when the two door hardtop Mercedes Gull Wing was launched in the 1950s. It had two doors that opened up which did indeed look very much like gull’s wings. It was by any standards an amazing design. It cost $10,000 in The United States, which was a considerable amount of money; nevertheless they were highly popular and a great deal were sold. A Gull Wing Mercedes was sold at auction during 2006 for $777,240 Australian Dollars approximately $715,000 American Dollars. 1957 saw the launch of the Mercedes 300 SL; Americans bought a considerable number of the 300 SL. It was fast, reaching almost 250 kph, which is over 150 mph.
As far back as 1960 Mercedes were testing vehicles and transmitting the data to a specially adapted vehicle. It may seem strange in the current high tech world of today but the data was transmitted by way of a very long cable running from the test car to the other vehicle, which would drive behind it, hopefully keeping up.
During 1963 Mercedes Benz launched the 230SL, the first sports car to have a crumple free zone. It was not particularly fast compared with some of the previous models; it had a top speed of less than 200 Kilometres per hour. It was however hugely popular selling, nearly 20,000 models. Mercedes had come a long way from the days when they were making just a few hundred of each model. In 1978 Mercedes Benz introduced anti lock brakes (ABS). In 1981 they were the first manufacturer to introduce the airbag. One can only speculate on the number of lives and serious injuries, those safety features will have saved over the years.
The 190E came out in 1982 and in 11 years sold an incredible 638,000.Throughout the 80’s and 90’s Mercedes continued to sell large numbers of cars and in 1998 Daimler Benz merged with The Chrysler Corporation, effectively a takeover by Daimler Benz and formed Daimler Chrysler. It was not a success and in 2007 Daimler sold 80.1% of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management for $7.4 Billion, having initially invested $36 billion in 1998.
This has allowed Mercedes Benz to get back on track and concentrate on their build quality. Now after their recent of ups and downs, they have restored their good name and reputation. Contract hire companies are no longer nervous about recommending the marque and the prestige that has always been associated with Mercedes Benz remains intact.
Should you have any queries or questions with regard to Licence checking, Fleet Management, Contract Hire, Personal Contract Hire, Lease Purchase or vehicle Hire Purchase, please do not hesitate to contact us. Bowater Price plc 01494 536 536. www.bowaterprice.com.