A 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe sold for $143 million in 2022, making it the most expensive car ever sold at public auction. That result, on its own, says most of what needs to be said about a brand that, a century later, continues to remain one of the world's most aspirational. This week marks 100 years since two rival German engineering companies merged into one, and the badge they created has gone on to define automotive prestige more completely than perhaps any other emblem in the industry.
Daimler-Benz AG was founded on June 28 and 29, 1926, formalizing a merger between Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie that had been quietly under preparation since a joint venture began in 1924. The combined "Mercedes-Benz" word mark was registered on April 25, 1925, ahead of the formal merger, and the now-iconic emblem, the Mercedes star encircled in Benz's laurel wreath, was registered on August 21, 1926.
That mark, shown on an early dual-branded advertisement pairing a yellow Mercedes tourer with a red Benz, has remained on every Mercedes-Benz vehicle since, an unbroken run of continuity few brands in any industry can claim. The new company wasted no time establishing its identity. At the Berlin Motor Show in October and November, Mercedes-Benz introduced the 8/38 PS and 12/55 PS passenger cars, followed in April 1927 by the Model K, a sporting flagship for the most discerning customers following its touring car racing success.
The foundation for that continuity traces back further still, to Carl Benz's 1886 patent for the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, widely regarded as the world's first automobile, and Gottlieb Daimler's four-wheeled motor carriage built the same year. From that starting point, the three-pointed star spread well beyond passenger cars. Mercedes-Benz built military trucks and reconnaissance vehicles through both World Wars.
Over the decades, the German marque has produced some of the most recognizable Mercedes-Benz nameplates in the company's history. Export expansion in the 1950s, safety leadership through the 1960s and 1970s, segment diversification from the 1980s onward, and a shift toward intelligent assistance systems since the 2000s.
The Ponton sedans of the 1950s, whose pontoon-style bodywork gave the model line its name and modernized the brand's postwar design language, and the G-Class and Unimog, two utilitarian platforms born for military and agricultural use that have each, in their own way, become unexpected status symbols decades later.
Few model lines have shaped the industry as decisively as the S-Class, which has functioned for decades as the benchmark for safety and innovation, introducing technologies, from anti-lock brakes to airbags to adaptive cruise control, that became standard across the entire industry only after Mercedes-Benz proved them first. It has been the choice of Royalty and heads of state, a tradition that continues with the brand's current state fleets used across the Gulf and Europe today.
On the racetrack, we saw the legendary Silver Arrows go after high-speed record runs in the 1930s, and by the 1950s, the W196 carried Juan Manuel Fangio to consecutive Formula 1 World Championships in the same era that produced the 300 SLR and the now iconic 300 SL Gullwing, or the Blue Chip Benz.
That pedigree has carried into the modern era too, with the team taking eight consecutive Formula 1 Constructors' Championships between 2014 and 2021, a record no other team has matched, and a return to Le Mans in the 1990s with the CLK GTR, reconnecting the brand to endurance racing's biggest stage.
Today, even with electrification, mechanical ambition has not been abandoned along the way, either; Mercedes-Benz has confirmed it will retain a flagship V12 engine in production into the 2030s, a commitment few legacy manufacturers are still willing to make, even as the AMG ONE hypercar and the enduring strength of modern classics like the SLR McLaren, which we’ve argued remains undervalued relative to contemporaries like the Carrera GT.
The brand's holistic design philosophy now extends across architecture, lifestyle, and sport, applying the same engineering rigor and aesthetic standards to fashion, accessories, and living spaces that it once reserved for the car alone. Three S-Class sedans are currently driving to 140 destinations across six continents, and that same design language has extended into Mercedes-Benz Places, including the Binghatti City development in Dubai, which duPont REGISTRY covered as a feature exclusive after attending the project's launch in January this year.
One hundred years after two German engineering companies joined forces, the three-pointed star is still defining what aspiration looks like, on the road, on the racetrack, and now, in the skyline.
