Mercedes-Benz Group

What they do

Mercedes-Benz Group AG builds premium passenger cars and vans under the Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach names. Headquartered in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, it traces its lineage to Benz & Cie., founded by Carl Benz in 1883, and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft. The two merged in June 1926 to form Daimler-Benz. After separating its truck business in December 2021, the company took the name Mercedes-Benz Group in February 2022.

Why it matters

Mercedes-Benz has long used its flagship S-Class as a laboratory for features that later spread across the industry. Engineer Béla Barényi's 1952 patent for a body with a rigid passenger cell and deformable front and rear sections reached series production in the W 111 of 1959, the same year the company began systematic crash testing with dummies. The S-Class later introduced a second-generation anti-lock braking system in 1978, a driver airbag in 1981, electronic stability control with Bosch in 1995 and the PRE-SAFE occupant protection system in 2002.

Products to know

• S-Class: the luxury saloon that debuts most of the brand's technology.
• E-Class and C-Class: the volume saloons and estates.
• Mercedes-AMG and Mercedes-Maybach: performance and luxury sub-brands.
• Vans: commercial and private vans.

The German angle

The company sits at the centre of Germany's largest industrial cluster, and its fortunes shape those of hundreds of suppliers in Baden-Württemberg. Its shareholder register also reflects how German industry is now intertwined with China, both as a market and as a source of capital, with BAIC and an investment vehicle of Geely founder Li Shufu among its largest named holders. For focusgermany readers, the most durable Mercedes legacy is not a single model but a philosophy: that safety engineering can be a brand value, and that a firm can give away the idea once it has proved it.