The Mercedes-Benz Group's origin is in an Agreement of Mutual Interest signed on 1 May 1924 between Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. Both companies continued to manufacture their separate automobile and internal combustion engine marques until 28 June 1926, when Benz & Cie. and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft formally merged, becoming Daimler-Benz AG. They agreed that thereafter, all of the factories would use the brand name of "Mercedes-Benz" on their automobiles. The inclusion of the name Mercedes in the new brand name honored the most important model series of DMG automobiles, the Mercedes series, which were designed and built by Wilhelm Maybach.
During World War II, Daimler-Benz created a notable series of engines for German aircraft, tanks, and submarines. Its cars became the first choice of many Nazi, Fascist Italian, and Japanese officials, including Adolf Hitler, who most notably used the Mercedes-Benz 770 luxury car. Daimler also produced parts for German arms, such as barrels for Mauser Kar98k rifles. After the war, Daimler admitted to its links and coordination with the Nazi government.
In 1966, Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH merged with Mercedes-Benz Motorenbau Friedrichshafen GmbH to form Maybach Mercedes-Benz Motorenbau GmbH, under partial ownership by Daimler-Benz. The company was renamed Motoren und Turbinen-Union Friedrichshafen GmbH (MTU Friedrichshafen) in 1969. In 1989, Daimler-Benz InterServices AG (Debis) was created to handle data processing, financial and insurance services, and real estate management for the Daimler group.
In 1998, Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corporation merged to form DaimlerChrysler AG. This was valued at US$38 billion, making it the world's largest ever cross-border deal. The merger was contentious, with investors launching lawsuits over whether the transaction was a 'merger of equals' or a Daimler-Benz takeover of Chrysler. A class action investor lawsuit was settled in August 2003 for US$300 million.
In 2000, DaimlerChrysler acquired the Detroit Diesel Corporation and placed its on-highway division under Daimler Trucks North America. The off-highway division was placed under MTU Friedrichshafen to form MTU America. Also in 2000, DaimlerChrysler entered into an alliance with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in an effort to reach the Asian market. In May 2007, Daimler agreed to sell the Chrysler unit to Cerberus Capital Management for US$6 billion. DaimlerChrysler changed its name to Daimler AG and retained a 19.9% stake in the separated Chrysler LLC.
In May 2010, the Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology Co., Ltd., trading as "Denza" was established between BYD and Daimler to produce luxury electric vehicles. In November 2014, Daimler announced it would acquire 25 percent of Italian motorcycle producer MV Agusta. On 3 August 2015, Nokia announced that it had reached a deal to sell its Here digital maps division to a consortium of three German automakers—BMW, Daimler AG, and Volkswagen Group—for €2.8 billion.
In September 2019, Daimler announced that it would be "stopping its internal combustion engine development initiatives as part of its efforts to embrace electric vehicles." In February 2021, Daimler said it planned to rename itself, adopting the name of its flagship marque, Mercedes-Benz, and spun off its heavy commercial vehicles unit, Daimler Truck, into a separate listed company. Daimler Truck is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and its first trading day was on 10 December 2021.
On 1 February 2022, Daimler officially changed its registered company name to Mercedes-Benz Group AG. Sales of Mercedes-Benz Group vehicles in 2023 were 2,491,600, an increase of 1.5%. Fully electric Mercedes-Benz passenger car sales rose by 73% during the year. The company was reported to be among the top 30 global investors in research and development (R&D) in 2025.
The Mercedes-Benz Group sells automobiles under the following brands worldwide: Mercedes-Benz Cars (Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach), Smart, Mercedes-Benz Vans (Mercedes-Benz vans group), and Mercedes-Benz Mobility (Mercedes-Benz Bank, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services). The group also owns Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, which builds engines for Formula One racing.
In 2015, Daimler held interests in Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation of Japan, Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC), KAMAZ of Russia, and Aston Martin Lagonda. From 1986 to 1989, Daimler produced the Mercedes-Benz W123 sedans in China under a joint venture with FAW Group. Beijing Jeep was a joint venture between Chrysler and BAIC Motor. After DaimlerChrysler was formed, its legal name was changed to Beijing Benz in 2004, and it started producing Mercedes-Benz models in 2006.
Daimler AG and the utility company RWE AG were set in 2009 to begin a joint electric car and charging station test project in Berlin, called "E-Mobility Berlin." Following trials in 2007 and then with Tesla in 2009, Daimler is building a production Smart electric drive car using Tesla's battery technology. In September 2019, Daimler redirected its internal combustion engine development initiatives to focus on electric vehicle technologies. Since 2019, fully electric cars have been released through the Mercedes-EQ brand.
Daimler has been involved with fuel cell vehicle development for some time, with a number of research and concept vehicles shown and demonstrated, the first being the 2002 Mercedes-Benz F-Cell car. Mercedes-Benz launched its first passenger car model equipped with a hybrid drive system in summer 2009, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class 400 Hybrid.
On 16 November 2009, Daimler and Aabar Investments purchased a 75.1% stake in Brawn GP. The company was rebranded as Mercedes GP with its base in Brackley, UK. In November 2012, Aabar Investments sold its remaining shares, leaving the team (rebranded as Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team) wholly Daimler-owned. Daimler also owns Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, which, as of 2024, supplied engines to Aston Martin, Williams, and McLaren, in addition to Mercedes AMG Petronas.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
