Mercedes-Benz Luxury Cars

'Love of invention will never die'

Carl Benz is born in Karlsruhe on 25 November 1844. His father dies in July 1846. Despite living on limited financial means, his mother ensures that her son attends a grammar school and later studies mechanical engineering. The young engineer advances quickly from a locksmith to a designer and workshop foreman. In 1871, Carl Benz joins forces with 'mechanician' August Ritter to found his first company, 'Carl Benz and August Ritter, Engineering Workshop', in Mannheim. When Ritter emerges as an unreliable partner, Carl Benz is forced to pay him off using the dowry of his wife, Bertha Ringer, and runs the company alone. From 1878, Carl Benz works intensively on a gas-driven two-stroke engine to realise his vision of a 'vehicle without horses'. After long and laborious attempts, he gets the engine running for the first time on New Year’s Eve in 1879. He founds the 'Gasmotorenfabrik Mannheim' (Mannheim Gas Engine Factory) as a shareholding company in October 1882. Benz’s share in the company amounts to a mere 5 per cent, however, and he has only limited influence in technical areas. His backers are primarily concerned with the safe business of stationary gas engines.

Benz leaves the company in January 1883 and joins forces with new business partners Max Rose and Friedrich Wilhelm Esslinger. They found the company 'Benz & Cie. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik Mannheim' (Benz & Co. Rhine Gas Engine Factory Mannheim' and launch the two-stroke 'System Benz' engine. While Benz strives to implement his automotive vision, his business partners Rose and Esslinger are sceptical of the outcome. Carl Benz is once again faced with finding new investors. Julius Ganss and Friedrich von Fischer replace Rose and Esslinger in May 1890. The combined business model of producing stationary and vehicle engines is a success. But Benz wanted to focus exclusively on vehicles and starts the company 'Carl Benz Söhne' (Carl Benz & Sons) in Ladenburg in 1906. In 1912, Carl Benz resigns as Managing Director and transfers sole management control to his sons. He witnesses the rise of motorisation and the implementation of his ideas. On his 80th birthday, the 'once ridiculed and misunderstood inventor,' as he has been seen in the past, enjoys plaudits from around the world. In his last years (1926 to 1929), Carl Benz remains active as a Board Member of the new Daimler-Benz AG company. The automobile pioneer dies at his home in Ladenburg on 4 April 1929.