Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German company specializing in manufacturing passenger cars and engines with headquarters in Stuttgart. Nowadays the company is a subsidiary of the concern Daimler-Benz. After the death of Gottlieb Daimler in 1900 automobile manufacturing was continued by his son Paul and an engineer Maybach. Wilhelm Maybach who was a faithful assistant of Daimler started to manage the firm. In 1900 he began to develop his own car that possessed classic arrangement of automobile components – engine and radiator were placed ahead under the hood of a car. A new auto was equipped with 35 horsepower four-cylinder engine. The first sample was accomplished in the form of a two-seat racing car. The model was named Mercedes in honour of daughter of the co-owner of the company, diplomat and enthusiastic auto-racer Emil Jellinek.
In 1899 Jellinek scored a victory during a racing competition thanks to a car with improved construction and glorified the firm Daimler all over the world. Since then all passengers of the firm Daimler started to be produced under the Mercedes brand. In 1926 "Daimler Geselschaft" and "Benz und Co" started negotiations about a merger that resulted in appearing a three-beam logo star symbolizing three natural elements subservient to the autos of the concern – air, water and earth. Later the concern began to produce the first diesel passengers whereas a team of constructors was preparing rear-engined cars for production.
In the beginning of 1940-s demand for luxury powerful cars of the Mercedes brand considerably increased in Germany. They were manufactured on the basis of specific orders for heads of states and governments, high-ranking Nazis and those people who considered traditional cars to be insufficiently ambitious.
After the Second World War Mercedes cars returned to automobile sport and even gained victory in the racing named 25 Hours of Le Mans in 1952. When a new generation of big executive S-class sedans produced by the automobile concern Daimler-Benz in 1979 it was announced that they would become the best cars of 1980-s and it was proved. In 1980-s Japanese firms began to prevail at the market of expensive cars. However, European automobile manufacturers actively competed: examples of their efforts were models Mercedes S-class with12-cylinder engine which proved high competitiveness of German technology. In 1992 model range of Mercedes-Benz was replenished with a new modification – SL600. In 2001 a new generation of these cars appeared.
Nowadays Mercedes-Benz remains at the top of automotive industry. Producing high quality cars and engines famous concern with a trade mark in the form of three-beam star consistently maintains leading position in car manufacturing and high competitiveness.
