The name Mercedes Benz stands for luxury cars that are safe, well engineered and classy. It is no accident that many safety features that are almost standard in other car makes now were first introduced at Mercedes Benz. A good example here is the airbag which to date has saved countless lives in automobile accidents all over the world.
Mercedes Benz History
It all started in 1871 when young Karl Benz started The Iron Foundry and Machine Shop together with a partner, August Ritter. Later Benz left the partnership and started his own company.
By 1885 he had developed a two-stroke engine and produced what must have been one of the world’s first motorcycles. 1886 saw the arrival of the motor car in an engine powered three-wheeled carriage. Like many new inventions it was not well received at first.
However Benz’s wife, Bertha helped changed the perception of the public when she went on a sixty-mile trip with the motor car. Suddenly there was a demand for the new contraptions because Germans at the time (the Victorian age) were convinced that if a woman would run it, anybody would.
And so that is how Benz started concentrating all his efforts on manufacturing cars.
Benz merged with his racing partner Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in 1926 and soon produced the famous K type model. It was the fastest car in the world at an astonishing speed of 145 km/h.
Daimler Benz continued to make history as the years rolled on. One that stands out over the other excellent cars that were built by this respected car manufacturer is the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing of 1954 which was capable of a speed of 250 kph.
Since the first Mercedes arrived in Australia in May 1900 the marque has remained one of the most respected European names in the country and is associated with producers of the best luxury cars in the world in the minds of many Australians.