Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, May 13, 2008

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A plant with a fascinating biography
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Official opening on October 12, 1908
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Origins date from the work of Carl Benz
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Around 7.5 million commercial vehicle engines since 1949

Mannheim. For Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz Mannheim plant, the year 2008 represents a major anniversary, for it was this very site, in the newly built plant belonging to the joint stock company Benz & Cie., Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik in Mannheim, that witnessed production start-up 100 years ago. The facility on the slopes of the Luzenberg in the suburb of Mannheim-Waldhof was officially opened on October 12, 1908. Benz & Cie. had bought the 311,000-square-meter site back in 1906, and construction work based on plans drawn up by the architect Albert Speer began in 1907. By the time of the opening ceremony, an area of around 35,000 square meters had been built on with factory buildings.

The Mannheim plant has enjoyed a highly varied career in its 100 years to 2008. This was where the first Benz passenger cars were produced, followed later by Mercedes-Benz models.Mannheim then became a commercial vehicle plant, before finally specializing in the production of buses. Other important activities include engine production and the casting of engine components. In its centenary year, the Mannheim plant is part of a historic tradition that goes back even beyond the year of its foundation. For it was in Mannheim that Carl Benz developed his two-stroke gas engine back in 1879 – a feat of engineering that was to provide the spark that would later give rise to the development of the modern automobile in 1886.


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