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Automotive Autos The ups and downs of Mercedes Benz cars
Automotive Autos The ups and downs of Mercedes Benz cars
| The ups and downs of Mercedes Benz cars |
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| Written by Harvey Williams |
| Thursday, 24 July 2008 16:23 |
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Mercedes Benz is a marque that has throughout the years been associated with luxury and high build quality. When one sees a new Mercedes Benz with it's beautiful lines driving down the road, its easy to forget that like most manufacturers Mercedes Benz have had their ups and downs, some of them quite recently; Mercedes build quality started to suffer in recent years, it came to the point where contract hire and leasing companies became nervous about recommending them. The model that came in for the most criticism was the M Class. 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 Karl Benz was based in Mannheim when he invented what has become known as the world's first automobile, it was patented in 1886. Benz called it the Benz Patent Motorwagen. It had three wheels which were hardly wider than those of today's bicycle wheels, the occupants were completely exposed to the elements and subjected to a very bumpy ride. In those days lights to enable the driver to see and be seen, hadn't been thought of. In the meantime a gentleman by the name of Gottleib Daimler along with William Maybach were also busy inventing a car powered by an internal combustion engine. The vehicle was called the Daimler Riding car. The engine had an upright cylinder from which it derived its name the Grandfather Clock. Daimler called his vehicle a car but it was in fact a motorcycle, the worlds first. With its one cylinder, its speed at full throttle was 13 Kilometres an hour. Neither Benz or Daimler knew of the other's work, even although they were only working about 100 Kilometres from each other. During 1886 Daimler and Maybach launched their Motorised Carraige, again they installed their Grandfather clock engine which was referred to as high-speed, the top speed was about 18 kilometres per hour, although compared to walking it was high-speed. It was the world's first four wheel car; although Karl Benz had patented his car in the same year, his was a three wheel vehicle. During 1889 Daimler exhibited another car that became known as the wire wheel car, at an exhibition in Paris. It certainly attracted a lot of attention, it is said that seeing this vehicle, is what started the French motor industry. Karl Benz was by the 1980's also manufacturing 4 wheel cars, in both 2, 3, and 4 seater versions. The stability of the cars were much improved by the system he had developed where each of the front wheels could turn on a different radius The pace of development was fast in 1894 Benz introduced the Benz Motor Velocipide, it was a two seater vehicle with a top speed of about 20 kilometres per hour. It was the first car to be produced in any serious volumes he sold 1200. Benz then produced a motorized bus, it was a lovely looking vehicle but not terribly succesful; a combination of poor road conditions and its very narrow wheels made it farly impracticle. In 1896 Daimler produced a belt driven car, this time with two cylinders but still with a top speed of only about 18 miles per hour. Daimler also produced the world's first truck, which had a flat bed and was rather strange looking; it had various cabinets for storeage, that looked rather like kitchen cabinets. It was very slow at about 11 kilometres per hour but very popular. German breweries bought them for delivering beer and some were sold in England. In the same year Daimler produced a vehicle for carrying heavy loads, up to 500 kgs.They looked rather like a motorized version of the covered wagon from the Wild West. Benz's new vehicle in 1899 was called the Dos a Dos, it could achieve speeds of up to 35 KPH, which was fast. It was a 4 seater, two of the passengers would sit facing the rear of the car. When Daimler died in 1990, control of the company passed to William Maybach. A very succesful motor racing driver and businessman, Emil Jellinek told Maybach that he should produce cars that were faster and more modern in design. He also asked Maybach to call his cars Mercedes; his young daughter's name. This is where the name Mercedes, that the cars still carry today, originated. A number of more modern and faster car were produced by Daimler, in the early 1900's. There was the 40 horsepower Mercedes Simplex that suceeded the 35 horsepower model. It was a single seater car with a top speed of 80 Kilometres per hour by now the car had 4 cylinders. One of these models is believed to be the oldest Mercedes still in existence. 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. When the First World War started, car production ceased and the factories started producing materials and milatry vehicles, for the war effort. This was also the case in Britain. When the war ended, the German economy was all but destroyed;. Inflation was virtually out of control and there was a severe shortage of fuel, these were very difficult times for Germany. Cars became very expensive to buy; a luxury tax had been imposed on cars and very few people could afford to buy a new car. Nowadays motorists in the UK can aquire a new Mercedes on contract hire, for a monthly payment of around 300, how things have changed. It is said that in 1924 Daimler made an approach to Benz and proposed a merger but it did not go ahead. However during 1924 economic conditions were taking their toll on both companies and a merger agreement was signed by the parties and was finalized in 1926. After the war Mercedes launched a sports car, it had two seats and a supercharged engine, the top speed was impressive at over 108kph. In 1927 Mercedes Benz then produced a touring car; they called it the Model S, the Model S was even faster at 160 kph. At the time it was hard to imagine that greater speeds could be achieved but one year later the SSK Sports was launched. It seems strange that it was specifically produced for hill climb racing, because one would have thought that that was quite a limited market. It had an extraordinary top speed approaching 200 kph. In 1934 Mercedes Benz brought out the 500K. It was only for the very rich, with a price tag of 28,000 Marks. It wasn't as fast as the SSK but could still achieve a very respectable 160 kph. It was a beautifully designed car; long and elegant with a tremendous amount of style. The 550K was followed by the 540K, a car not dissimilar in design but 10 kph faster. Mercedes were also manufacturing the Mercedes Benz 770, a very large luxury car. The vehicle was a favourite with Germany's captains of industry, in which they would be chauffeur driven. At the time manufacturers did not seem concerned about the very small numbers that they produced of a particular model, before bringing out the next model, about 420 of the 540K were produced and Mercedes manufactured less than 120 of the 770. During the Second World War Mercedes Benz become embroiled in controversy, with accusations of forced labour being used in their factories. Because Mercedes were part of the German war effort, the allied forces heavily targeted their factories. At the end of the war virtually all their factories had been destroyed. With hardly any machinery remaining and no raw materials available things looked bleak. However by 1948 they had re-started production. 1951 saw the launch of the Mercedes Benz 300 saloon, it was a prestige car and over 4500 were sold. Mercedes also produced the 300S convertible. The outstanding Gull-Wing two-seater hardtop was launched during the 1950s, so called because when the two doors were open, they opened upwards; it looked like a gull in flight. There had been nothing like it before and the motoring press loved it. It was sold very successfully in America but at around $10,000 it was extremely expensive. However had someone bought one and held onto it, they would have made a lot of money; in 2006 a 1955 model was sold for the equivalent of $716,000 usd in an auction in Australia. In 1957 Mercedes brought out the 300 SL. This time an open sports car, it was extremely fast at nearly 250 kph. This model sold very well in America. Mercedes were always striving to make their vehicles safer and even in the 1960s they were carrying out comprehensive testing on their cars, measuring how they performed in different conditions. Although it's hard to believe, in today's world where almost anything seems technologically possible, that the only method that Mercedes had for collecting their test data was to have another vehicle drive behind the test car, connected by a very long cable. In 1963 Mercedes introduced the 230 SL a sports car with a crumple free zone, the worlds first. It was surprisingly slow compared some of Mercedes earlier sports cars. This didn't stop it being an enormous success; Mercedes sold almost 20,000 of the 230 SL, a far cry from the days when they were selling only a handful of each model. More safety innovations followed; in 1978 ABS was introduced by Mercedes Benz and then the airbag in 1981. Mercedes should be proud of their record in safety and the lives that they have inevitably saved 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. Should you have any queries or questions with regard to Licence checking, Fleet Management, Contract Hire, Personal Contract Hire, Lease Purchase or vehicle Hire Purchase, please do not hesitate to contact us. Bowater Price plc 01494 536 536. www.bowaterprice.com. Kindly provided by LJ-Marketing.dk You are welcome to use this article on your own website, if you include the link just before this text. |
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