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Racing and success

1895. The start of racing. The first motor race in the world began in Paris and finished in Rouen. Of the 21 vehicles that started out, only 15 reached the finishing line. Nine of them were fitted with "Système Daimler" engines. The infant automobile industry was quick to see that it stood to gain from racing in two ways. Firstly every win was powerful advertising and secondly a racing car makes an excellent test laboratory; new features can be exhaustively tested before being installed in ordinary production cars.

1903. Fire in Cannstatt. On June 10, 1903, a fire broke out at Daimler's Cannstatt factory which completely destroyed the production facilities. 100 cars, including three racing cars which were due to take part in the forthcoming Godon Bennett rally, were also consumed by the flames. In a lightning move, the plant now bought back three 60 hp Simplex models and entered these in the race. Although all the other cars taking part had more powerful engines, the Simplex was first across the finishing line!

1919. Peacetime production. Drawing on experience gained with aeroengines in the First World War, it was now decided to use supercharging in vehicle engines too. Successful trials with the valveless Knight engines quickly led to this technique being used also for valve engines. The "supercharger era" had begun.

1921. The first luxury models. In 1921 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft presented two new vehicle models at the Berlin Motor Show. These supercharged cars - easy to identify by the three exhaust pipes snaking out of the side - were the first luxury cars of the post-war era.

1926. The birth of Daimler-Benz. After the currency reform and the inflation crisis, Benz & Cie and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft founded an association of common interest in 1924. On July 1, 1926, the companies then merged to form Daimler-Benz AG.