Description
Have you ever wondered how one of the most iconic and luxurious car brands in the world came to be? In this video, you will discover the amazing story of Carl Benz, the poor German boy who invented the first automobile and founded Mercedes-Benz.
Success Story
Friends, do you know who started Mercedes-Benz, which is today the world’s most valuable luxury automobile brand? This poor boy named Karl Benz lived in a hut inside Germany. This is the same Carl who is considered the inventor of petrol-powered vehicles. At the age of just two years, his father lost his control. Mother used to work in other houses so that Carl could study and become a capable businessman.
When he started the business, his friend turned out to be the biggest traitor and when he finally started seeing success, his manufacturing plant was destroyed in a bomb blast. But then how did Mercedes-Benz manage to survive again after so many challenges? In today’s Blog we are going to know the whole story. So friends, the story of Mercedes-Benz starts from 25 November 1844 when Karl Benz was born in Marburg town, Germany. His father was a loco pilot by profession. That is why initially Karl and his family were financially stable.
But when his father died just two years after his birth, it seemed as if a mountain of sorrow fell on the family and now his mother had to go out to run the family. Karl Benz’s mother did many different jobs like working in other’s homes so that Karl did not feel any lack of any kind. And friends, Karl Benz also studied wholeheartedly, understanding his mother’s hard work and sacrifice. He was very fond of chemistry and mechanics, which resulted in him qualifying the mechanical engineering exam at the age of just 15.
And then after completing engineering from Polytechnic School, Karl Benz worked at seven different places in the next few years. Where he got a chance to develop many new skills. This period was of the 18th century when people had only one major means of transportation, horse cart. Although the bicycle had been invented at that time, it was not used much. Karl Benz was sure that a time would come when fuel-powered vehicles would be seen everywhere in place of horse-drawn carriages.
But this thought was also like a dream, as soon as people heard it, people started making fun of him. But still Karl was confident that his dream would definitely be fulfilled. After this, in 1871, when he was 27 years old, he took a big decision and left his good job and started doing iron business with a mechanic named August Return. Along with his new business, Karl also started working on his motor vehicle on the side and he became so passionate about it that at one point he left his entire business to his friend Dieter. In such a situation, the writer took full advantage of this exemption and cheated Karl Benz.
Due to which the company reached the verge of collapse. But friends, in this difficult time, Bertha Ranger entered his life, who later became his wife. Beth came from a very rich family and her parents had saved a lot of money for her dowry. And friends, with the same money, Carl and Bertha together bought all the shares that August Leader had in the company. In this way, this iron business now completely belonged to Karl and his wife Bertha. Later, in 1879, Karl invented a two-stroke engine running on gasoline and also got its patent in his name.
Apart from this, Karl Benz had many patents in his name like battery system, spark plug, clutch gear, carburetor and gear shift. But unfortunately, despite this, the company was not able to generate any significant profit and due to this he started selling the shares of his company. There came a time when Carl’s share in his own company was reduced to only five percent and the effect of this was that his reputation in the company was almost negligible. Due to which Karl Benz thought it best to get out of here.
After some time, he met two brothers, Max Rose and Frederick Wilhelm, who were owners of a bicycle shop and then together they started a company named Benjamin Company. While working in this company, Carl was getting a lot of time to work on his dream. For this reason, in 1885 he made a tricycle that could operate on gasoline and a four-stroke motor. Karl patented this tricycle and named it Benz Patent Motor Wagen. Whose maximum speed was 16 kilometers per hour. Now there was a big problem in this model that it was very difficult to control. That’s why when it was demonstrated, it went straight and hit a wall and people made fun of Benz.
At the same time, there was a fear in the minds of people about the motor running on gasoline that it might explode while riding it. Due to this, very few units of this vehicle were sold and the product could not achieve much success. Now friends, this event was quite demotivating for Carl but still he did not give up and started making his vehicle even better. After this, in 1889, he brought out the model of that vehicle and again made Model Three. Now because Karl had still not been able to forget the incident that had happened at the time of the first demonstration.
That is why he did not want to publicize these models but his wife felt that the models were perfect in every way and it should be done. But even after much persuasion, Karl Benz did not agree to this. And friends, being troubled by this very thing, one morning Barkha took a big step and put both her children in this motor wagon and went to meet her mother. And friends, let us tell you that it was this journey of 107 kilometers that changed the automobile industry forever. On the way, when people saw this three-wheeler moving without any horse, then they started running away in fear as if a ghost was passing in front of them.
Wherever Barkha passed with her car, the scene was the same. This vehicle broke down several times on the way, which Barkha herself repaired and continued her journey. The fuel capacity of the Model 3 was only four and a half litres, so they ran out of fuel after the explosion on the way. After this he bought a petroleum solvent liquid from the nearby city pharmacy and poured it in the car. This is the reason why City Pharmacy is still called the world’s first filling station.
During this journey, Bertha noticed that the wooden brake installed in the motor vehicle was very worn out and was not working properly. So he replaced it and got leather brakes. Due to which his journey became even easier. In this way, after facing many problems like bad road, frequent stopping of motor vehicle and many similar problems, he finally completed his journey in 12 hours. After staying with her mother for some time, Bertha came back to Carl and told him about all the problems she was facing with the motor vehicle.
And friends, later this vehicle was further improved with their feedback. Apart from this, this journey of Bertha had become so popular that people from far away places started coming to Carl to see this motor vehicle. Due to this popularity, the company’s internal combustion engine also sold well and within no time the Benson company became the largest automobile company in the world at that time.
In 1893, Karl Benz named his car Benz Victoria, which was considered the most luxurious car of that time. After this, in 1899, his company sold 572 cars worldwide, which was a huge number at that time. Because at that time, horse carriages were considered the main means of traveling and such motor vehicles were used only by the royal family or very rich people. Now friends, at that time Karl also had a rival company named Daimler Motors. It was run by two partners Gottlieb Daimler and Henry John Lawson and their company also made amazing motor cars.
Actually Daimler had succeeded in making an engine which could be run by connecting it to a motorcycle, boat or any trolley. Gottlieb Daimler, apart from being an excellent engineer, was also a very good businessman, in whom the company saw a lot of growth. Also, in March 1901, he launched a car named Mercedes HP, which was very similar to today’s cars and it got a lot of popularity at that time. This was a time when both the companies i.e. Benjamin Company of Tomorrow and Daimler Motors of Gottlieb Daimler. Was making new records every day.
But then the World War started, which affected the company’s production and both suffered huge losses. During that time, they somehow survived and when the war ended, their production started improving slightly. However, these golden days did not last long because due to the recession in the market, the company started facing losses again. And there came a time when Carl started feeling that his company would not be able to survive for long. Meanwhile, Gottlieb Daimler’s vehicles were also not being sold and he was also getting worried due to continuous losses. Then came the year 1926 when both the companies decided to merge with each other.
In this way, by combining Benz & Company and Daimler Motors, a completely new company was started which was named Daimler Benz. And friends, this company later became known as Mercedes-Benz. In the coming years, both these companies together launched many excellent models in the market and then gradually started moving forward. Although Karl Benz died just three years after this merger, no flaws were seen in the company’s operations or its quality. The company was launching new models and new and advanced improvements were being seen in every model, which people liked very much.
Like Mercedes Benz Seven SS, Mercedes Benz Seven Seven and many more. This was the period when the company wrote the history of success for the first time and sold seven thousand cars. But as soon as Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, everything changed. Hitler loved Mercedes and was seen many times in these cars. Now Hitler wanted that German cars should be talked about all over the world, so he started putting pressure on the company to make such cars which would leave everyone behind in speed. And friends, under the pressure of Hitler, the company did the same.
This was the reason that from 1934 to 1939, only Mercedes cars were winners in the Maximum Race. However, when World War II started in 1939, it proved to be a big problem for the company. During the war, many of their plants were burnt to ashes in bomb blasts. Besides, sales were also badly affected. Apart from this, Hitler also started putting pressure on Mercedes-Benz to stop its main production and make cars only for military forces. And you know that the company had no other option but to accept this. Later Hitler asked to increase production even further.
But most of the people were taking part in the war, so there was a shortage of workers in the company. In such a situation, the company hired many women so that the orders for weapons, aircraft engines and submarines could be fulfilled as soon as possible. However, after some time the company noticed that they were not able to achieve their target. Due to which a large number of Jews who were imprisoned by Hitler were employed inside the factory. At one time, 63 thousand prisoners were working in Mercedes Benz. Due to which when Germany was defeated in World War 2, this company also had to face a lot of criticism.
Due to this, apart from Germany, all the manufacturing plants in foreign countries were taken away from them and from here the bad phase of Mercedes-Benz started again. But friends, despite all this, the company did not give up and decided to make a fresh start again. This time this company started manufacturing cars for ambulance and police and then later on the company introduced many great cars for the public also. But in the global market he was still not getting the reputation that he used to have earlier.
Now, innovation and dramatic styling has always been a part of the Mercedes-Benz tradition. That is why in 1952, the company introduced the Mercedes Three Hundred SL with a very futuristic girl wing door which was like a dream car and within no time it created a stir in the market. The top speed of this car was 235 kilometers per hour, due to which it proved to be quite popular on the racing track also. In 1953, the company introduced the Mercedes-Benz W20 and T series and this series included the Mercedes-Benz Vanity Van model, which was a very compact car for everyday use.
Also Mercedes Benz. Many other cars like Twenty Twenty S and BSL were launched, due to which the company gradually started re-establishing its presence in the global market. Since then the company has made many safety and technological inventions. As it was the first car company in the world to fit a four valve diesel engine in its car so that the performance of the car could be made even smoother and enhanced. Apart from this, in 1961 the company also started providing seat belts in its vehicles. Along with this, attention was also paid to features like ABS, braking airbags and passenger safety.
Along with such innovations, the company also thought of targeting the youth, for which they started many ad campaigns. After this came the year 1994 when Mercedes-Benz entered India and set up its plant in Pune, Maharashtra. Mercedes’ first car, Mercedes-Benz W4, was first launched in India in 1995, although it was not the first car of this brand that came to India. Because in 1991, the Mercedes-Benz D car, now known as the A-Class, was specially imported to India from Germany for JRD Tata.
If we talk about the present, the company sells 26 of its models in the Indian market and one out of every four Mercedes Benz sold in the world is sold in India, whose average cost is more than Rs 1.5 crore. If we look at the highest selling model of the company, then GMC is considered to be the best selling model of Mercedes-Benz all over the world including India, of which 3,00,042 thousand 900 units were sold in 2022.
If we talk about worldwide total sales, the company had sold more than two million cars in 2022, which makes it the world’s highest selling luxury car brand. Now friends, today the company has succeeded in creating such an image of Mercedes-Benz cars that people do not see it as a vehicle but as an achievement and today it is a dream car company for millions of people.
Anyway, see you again with the powerful explanation of the Success Story.
