Over the years Mercedes have certainly had a great deal more successes than failures. Their cars so impressively designed are a shining example of how a quality car should engineered, but has it always been this way? Well certainly it has not always been easy for Mercedes; they have had to face many challenges throughout the years, many of which were completely out of their control. And some perhaps not; for example their more recent problems with build quality, which many believe were completely of Mercedes own making. Confidence in Mercedes dropped in the late 1990′s when it became evident that both mechanical and electronic faults were on the increase. Contract hire and leasing brokers became worried about recommending Mercedes Benz to clients. The M class received the most criticism from motoring journalists.

Various surveys at the time criticised Mercedes build quality; in 2003 The Consumer Association carried out a survey that criticised all the major German manufacturers, saying that they had all deteriorated, but Mercedes which they had previously considered best for reliability, was changed to average.

The Mercedes M class was placed last out of 142 cars surveyed by the BBC’s Top Gear programme in 2004. These were not good times for Mercedes but to their credit they have since made considerable changes, and gradually the Mercedes marque has once again become associated with dependability

In 1886 the world’s first automobile was invented by Karl Benz. He patented the vehicle and called it the Benz Patent Motorwagen. Benz was based in the German town of Mannheim.The car’s three wheels were little wider that today’s bicycle wheels. The ride was rather harsh and the occupants had no protection from the elements. Lights to enable the vehicle to negotiate the poor road conditions at night had not 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.

The Grandfather Clock engine was installed in Daimler and Maybach’s motorised carraige which was launched in 1886. It had a top speed of 18 Kilometres per hour which was considered fast. This time the vehicle had four wheels, the worlds first car with four wheels. The car that Karl Benz patented had three wheels. At an exhibition in Paris in 1889 Daimler exhibited their “wire wheel” car. There was considerable interest in the vehicle, some say that it was seeing this vehicle on display that caused the birth of the French car indusry.

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.

The Velocipide was a 2 seater vehicle developed by Benz in 1894, of which he sold 1200. It was fast for its day, at around 20 kph. His motorized bus which followed was beautifully designed but unfortunatey rather impracticle; wheels were still narrow and with roads more suitable for horse drawn carriages,it soon proved impracticle.

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.

William Maybach took control of the company when Daimler died in 1990. A gentleman by the name of Emil Jellinek encouraged Maybach to make changes. Jelinek was succesful both in motor racing and in business and he felt that Maybach needed to be building cars that were more modern in appearance and faster. He also persuaded Maybach to adopt the name Mercedes, after his daughter.

The early 1990′s saw changes at Daimler; the cars were faster and the designs were more modern. The single seater 40 horsepower Simplex repalced the 35 horsepower Simplex, the new version was fast with a top speed of 80 kph. One of these vehicles is said to be the today’s oldest surviving Mercedes Benz.

In 1905 Benz produced the 18 hp Double Phaeton and two years later the 75 horsepower Mercedes Double Phaeton was launched. It had 6 cylinders and was really very fast indeed at over 94 kph. Both Benz and Daimler started to do well in motor racing.

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 found himself in a weak position and it is said that an approach was made by Daimler, with a view to merging with Benz, but it fell through. In 1924 with both companies suffering badly from the economic conditions, they signed an agreement and eventually 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 model 550K was launched by Mercedes Benz in 1934. There was a version called The Special Roadster, the maximum speed was 160 kph. It was a spectacular looking vehicle that most people even today would consider to be an elegant and beautiful car. At the time the car cost 28,000 Marks, which was a considerable amount of money.

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.

The first sports car to have a crumple free zone was launched by Mercedes in 1963, the 230 SL. It was slower than some of their earlier sports cars, under 200 kph. The car’s lack of speed, certainly didn’t affect sale, nearly 20,000 were sold. Mercedes then started producing cars with anti-lock brakes in 1978. They were also the first manufacturer to introduce airbags, in 1981. Who knows how many lives have been saved by Mercedes dedicated commitment to road safety over the years.

1982 saw the launch of the hugely popular 190E, of which over 600,000 were sold. Mercedes enjoyed great success during the 1980′s and 90′s. Daimler Chrysler was created in 1998, when The Chrysler Corporation merged with Mercedes Benz. This proved to be pretty much a disaster for both companies. In 2007 Chrysler sold 80.1% to Cerberus Capital Management. Chrysler had invested $36 billion in Mercedes, their sale of 80.1% of the company, returned them just $7.4 billion.

Mercedes are now concentrating on their build quality and restoring confidence in the marque and in turn contract hire and leasing companies are confident in recommending Mercedes Benz to their clients. Soon they will hopefully be once again, classed as best for reliability.

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