The current building was designed by the Dutch architectural firm UN Studio and opened on 19 May 2006. Its form is based on a cloverleaf concept derived from three overlapping circles with the center removed, producing a triangular atrium whose geometry recalls the rotor shape of a Wankel engine. The structure achieves a striking ratio of floor area to exhibition space: a ground footprint of just 4,800 square metres (52,000 sq ft) supports 16,500 square metres (178,000 sq ft) of usable exhibition floor by stacking the collection vertically around a spiraling interior.
Exhibition designer HG Merz was commissioned before the architecture competition concluded in 2001, so the building's spatial organization and the curatorial concept were developed together as a unified work rather than retrofitted to each other. The resulting "double helix" interior — two interleaved ramps descending through the full height of the building — directly expresses the museum's two-track exhibition structure.
The double-helix layout divides the permanent collection into two interwoven narrative paths that visitors can follow independently or combine at any point. The "legend rooms" present a chronological account of major models, engineering milestones, and historical moments in the Mercedes-Benz story. The "collections" organize vehicles by type or purpose — racing cars, commercial vehicles, safety research cars — allowing thematic browsing independent of date. The two paths intersect repeatedly throughout the descent, so no single visit need follow the same sequence.
The museum holds more than 160 vehicles, some dating to the very earliest years of motorized transport. The collection encompasses road cars spanning more than a century of production, Grand Prix and sports racing machinery, record-breaking speed cars, concept vehicles, and commercial vehicles. All exhibits are maintained by the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Fellbach. Free audio guides are available in multiple languages. In 2023 the museum was visited by 800,245 people.
Visitors can also arrange guided tours of the nearby Untertürkheim engine manufacturing plant, where many of the company's diesel and petrol engines are produced, providing a working industrial complement to the historical collection.
Before the UN Studio building opened, the museum occupied a dedicated structure inside the factory complex, with visitors transported from the main entrance by a secured shuttle. The move to the current building in 2006 substantially expanded the collection's footprint and gave it a landmark architectural identity distinct from the factory environment.
The museum's racing holdings document Mercedes-Benz's competitive history from early twentieth-century Grand Prix racing through the Silver Arrows campaigns of the 1930s, the company's postwar return to Formula One and sports car racing in the 1950s, and the modern era of Mercedes-AMG Petronas involvement in Formula One from 2010 onward. Significant race cars, trophies, and technical exhibits make the museum a primary institutional record of the marque's role in shaping global motorsport.