Daimler sells its vehicles and services in nearly all the countries of the world and has production facilities in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Africa. Its current brand portfolio includes, in addition to the world’s most valuable premium automotive brand, Mercedes-Benz, as well as Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach, the brands smart, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz, FUSO, Setra and Thomas Built Buses, and Daimler Financial Services’ brands: Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial, Daimler Truck Financial, moovel and car2go.
The end of the First World War presented great challenges for the German automotive industry. In the years from 1914 to 1919 hardly any development work had been carried out on civilian products.
Gottlieb Daimler is born on 17 March 1834 in Schorndorf. After training as a gunsmith and working in France, he attends the Polytechnic School in Stuttgart from 1857 to 1859.
He founds 'Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft' on 28 November 1890 together with Max Duttenhofer and his business partner Wilhelm Lorenz.
After initially entering into a joint venture with the aim of rationalising production, and with a major role also being played by Deutsche Bank, the two companies Daimler Motorengesellschaft and Benz & Cie. finally merged in 1926 to form Daimler-Benz AG with its registered office in Berlin and administrative headquarters in Stuttgart.
Under the leadership of Wilhelm Kissel the initial difficulties were overcome and the company was stabilised by strictly limiting the number of models and introducing a flexible production system, first and foremost at the large factories in Untertürkheim, Sindelfingen and Mannheim.
As a pioneer of auto-motive engineering, Daimler continues to shape the future of mobility today: The Group’s focus is on innovative and green technologies as well as on safe and superior automobiles that appeal to and fascinate. Daimler consequently invests in the development of alternative drive trains with the long-term goal of emission-free driving: from hybrid vehicles to electric vehicles powered by battery or fuel cell.
Daimler AG: A German multinational automotive corporation
