Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of
luxury automobiles,
buses,
coaches, and
trucks. It is
currently a division of the parent company,
Daimler AG (formerly
DaimlerChrysler AG), after previously being owned by
Daimler-Benz. Mercedes-Benz
has its origins in
Karl Benz's creation of the
first
petrol-powered motorcycle
in January 1886,
[1]
and by
Gottlieb Daimler and
engineer
Wilhelm Maybach's
conversion of a 1873
Bollée
steam-engine automobile by the addition of a petrol engine the same year. The
Mercedes automobile
was first marketed in 1901 by
Daimler Motoren
Gesellschaft. 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.
[1]
Mercedes-Benz has introduced many technological and safety
innovations
that have become common in other vehicles several years later.
Mercedes-Benz Accessories GmbH is an independent subsidiary based in
Stuttgart-Vaihingen, founded in 2000. Its business include car accessories,
personal accessories, Collection and promotional items, and product design.
[2]
Mercedes-Benz AMG
became a majority owned division of Mercedes-Benz in 1998.
[3]
The company was integrated into DaimlerChrysler in 1999,
[4]
and became Mercedes-Benz AMG beginning on 1999-01-01.
[5]
Mercedes-Benz is currently owned by Daimler AG. Germany.
Since
its inception, Mercedes-Benz had maintained a reputation for its quality and
durability. Objective measures looking at
passenger vehicles -
such as
J.D. Power surveys,
demonstrated a downturn in reputation in this criteria in the late 1990s and
early 2000s. By mid-2005, Mercedes temporarily returned to the industry average
for initial quality, a measure of problems after the first 90 days of ownership,
according to J.D. Power.
[6]
In J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study for the first quarter of 2007, Mercedes
showed dramatic improvement by climbing from 25th to 5th place, surpassing
quality leader
Toyota, and earning several
awards for its models.
[7]
For 2008, Mercedes-Benz's initial quality rating improved by yet another mark,
now in fourth place.
[8]
On top of this accolade, it also received the Platinum Plant Quality Award for
its Mercedes’ Sindelfingen, Germany assembly plant.
[8]
As of 2009,
Consumer Reports of the United States has changed their
reliability ratings for several Mercedes-Benz vehicles to "average", and
recommending the
E-Class and the
S-Class.
The two companies which were merged to form the
Mercedes-Benz brand in
1926 had both already enjoyed success in the new sport of
motor racing throughout
their separate histories - both had entries in the very first automobile race
Paris to Rouen
1894. This has continued, and throughout its long history, the company has
been involved in a range of motorsport activities, including
sports car racing and
rallying. On several
occasions Mercedes-Benz has withdrawn completely from motorsport for a
significant period, notably in the late 1930s, and after the
1955 Le Mans
disaster, where a
Mercedes-Benz
300SLR collided with another car and killed more than 80 spectators.
Although there was some activity in the intervening years, it was not until 1987
that Mercedes-Benz returned to front line competition, returning to Le Mans,
Deutsche
Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM), and
Formula One with
Sauber.
The 1990s saw Mercedes-Benz purchase
British engine builder
Ilmor (now
Mercedes-Benz
High Performance Engines), and campaign
IndyCars under the
USAC/
CART rules,
eventually winning the
1994 Indianapolis
500 and
1994 CART
IndyCar World Series Championship with
Al Unser, Jr. at the
wheel. The 1990s also saw the return of Mercedes-Benz to GT racing, and the
Mercedes-Benz CLK
GTR, both of which took the company to new heights by dominating the FIA's
GT1 class.
Mercedes-Benz is currently active in three forms of motorsport,
Formula
Three, DTM and Formula One.
The hotels open in an atmosphere that is strikingly different from
the glittering times that spurred their construction. In 2006 when developers
announced plans to build the 1,001-room complex, the typical Los Angeles hotel
enjoyed double-digit annual increases in revenue and robust occupancy
rates.
