Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, May 13, 2008

1866 - Carl Benz becomes draftsman and designer at a scales factory in Mannheim
1871 - Benz and August Ritter set up a mechanical workshop on the plot known as T 6, 11 in Mannheim
1879 - Benz two-stroke engine
1882 - Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim founded with financial backing from Emil Bühler
1883 - Benz, Rose and Eßlinger found Benz & Cie., Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik
1886 - New factory building goes up in Waldhofstraße
1886 - German Patent No. 37435 awarded for the Benz patent motor car
1887 - Move to new plant premises, Waldhofstraße 24
1888 - Bertha Benz’s long-distance journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back
1893 - Technical laboratory for developing and testing cars
1895 - Benz builds the world’s first motorized bus for regular service
1899 - Benz & Cie., Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik in Mannheim converts to a joint stock company
1900 - Benz & Cie. becomes the world’s leading car manufacturer
1903 - Carl Benz steps down from company management, returning in 1904 to take a seat on the supervisory board
1905 - Benz & Cie. returns to profitability after economic crisis
1906 - Benz & Cie. purchases plot measuring 311,180 square meters on the Luzenberg in Mannheim-Waldhof for a new plant destined for car production
1907 - Construction work begins based on plans by the architect Albert Speer
1907 - Fritz Erle wins the Herkomer Trial in a 50 hp car
1908 - Official opening of new plant on October 12
1909 - Move to new premises completed successfully
1911 - Following three-year development work, Mannheim plant begins production of aircraft engines
1911 - Company name changed to Benz & Cie., Rheinische Automobil- und Motorenfabrik AG
1912 - New repair workshop built using reinforced concrete
1914 - Benz shares launched on Mannheim stock market
1915 - 15 women employed at the Mannheim plant for first time
1916 - Training department established
1921 - Department for stationary engines sold off as Motoren-Werke Mannheim
1923 - Series production of a four-cylinder diesel engine for tractors and commercial vehicles
1924 - Joint venture between Benz & Cie. and DMG
1925 - City of Mannheim renames two streets bordering former plant Carl-Benz-Straße
1926 - TH Hanover pays tribute to Carl Benz by driving to Ladenburg via Mannheim in a Benz Comfortable of 1895
1926 - Merger of DMG and Benz & Cie.
1929 - Rumors about possible plant closure in Mannheim
1930 - Wave of redundancies begins; by 1932 the global economic crisis accounts for the loss of almost 90 percent of all jobs at the plant
1933 - Reopening of the foundry, closed since 1930, and full employment returns for production of the Mercedes-Benz Mannheim and Nürburg models
1937 - Mannheim plant launches truck production
1939 - During the Second World War, the plant employs 448 prisoners-of-war and forced laborers from concentration camps, as well as 1,249 civilian foreign workers
1945 - US army occupies plant on March 23
1945 - In spite of 20 percent of all facilities being destroyed, production of the three-ton L 701 truck starts up again in June 1945
1949 - Introduction of new Mercedes L 3250 truck from Mannheim
1949 - Production start-up for new 300 engine series
1949 - The O 3500 is the first bus to come out of post-war Mannheim production
1949 - Remanufacturing of engines for commercial vehicles begins
1951 - All Mercedes-Benz bus production concentrated at Mannheim
1953 - Plant introduces vocational school education
1953 - L 4500 truck presented at the IAA
1954 - The O 321 H is the first bus to feature the semi-integral design approach of a highly rigid frame floor assembly welded to the body
1954 - Mannheim plant introduces plant suggestions scheme
1955 - Mannheim is Europe’s largest bus plant
1957 - Premiere of the first modern large-capacity bus by Mercedes-Benz, the O 317
1960 - Largest commercial vehicle plant on the continent
1965 - Truck production moved from Mannheim to Wörth
1965 - Opening of new foundry
1968 - Differentiation of bus series into coaches and urban buses
1970 - Construction of new production halls for engine assembly
1972 - Production start-up for new generation of commercial vehicle diesel engines, the OM 400 series
1974 - Enlargement of vocational college by the addition of seven new teaching rooms in lightweight construction
1977 - Acquisition of flywheel and gear rim production from Untertürkheim and part of textile production from Sindelfingen
1978 - Introduction of paint robots in engine assembly
1978 - Series production of crankcase core in “cold box” process at the new core shop
1979 - The public road Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Straße becomes part of the plant premises; number of western plant gates cut from six to one
1981 - Construction of a new administration building
1983 - Production of the two-millionth commercial vehicle engine since 1949
1983 - Conversion to district heating supply
1984 - Modernization of the bus plant and foundry
1984 - O 405 second generation of standard bus
1985 - O 407 new standardized inter-urban bus
1988 - Large-scale production starts of the 600 engine series
1989 - O 405 N – almost ground-level entry in an urban bus
1990 - Cataphoretic dip priming used in bus production
1991 - O 404 – a pooling of top technology
1995 - Foundation of EvoBus GmbH with Mercedes-Benz and Setra
1995 - 100th anniversary of the bus
1996 - Presentation of the Innovisia research vehicle, a bus featuring technology of the future
1996 - Production launch of the Integro interurban bus
1996 - Introduction of the first fuel cell powered bus NEBUS based on the O 405
1996 - Presentation of the Cito urban midibus
1996 - Large-scale production of the OM 904 LA engine series and engines from the 500 series
1997 - Premiere of the innovative Citaro regular service bus
1999 - New Mercedes-Benz Travego touring coach
1999 - Expansion of the cataphoretic dip priming facility
1999 - 50th anniversary of remanufactured engines from Mannheim and 300 engine series
2001 - New delivery hall
2001 - Official opening of the design studio for Mercedes-Benz Buses
2001 - Premiere of the new interurban Conecto H bus
2004 - Opening of used bus center
2005 - Introduction of Citaro low-entry vehicle
2007 - Investment in the “synchronous factory” with a view to modernizing production
2007 - Renamed “Mercedes-Benz Mannheim – a plant of Daimler AG”
2008 - Plant visited by Federal Research Minister Dr. Annette Schavan

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