Soon the Daimler AG group, which also includes the Mercedes brand, will operate a division within it. Mercedes will form a separate entity, Mercedes-Benz Group, which will deal with cars; while Daimler Trucks will focus on commercial vehicles. From 1 February 2022 a new chapter of a born story will therefore be written on November 28, 1890, when Gottlieb Daimler founded the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) company in Stuttgart.
In the notarial deed that formed the company, it was noted the contribution, for 200,000 marks each, of Max Duttenhofer and Wilhelm Lorenz, while Gottlieb Daimler brought all its properties back into the new entity, from the structures to the inventories, up to the patents obtained. The signing formalized an agreement between the three, already taken on March 14 of the same year, when the foundations were laid for “explore the commercial possibilities of Daimler’s inventions in all directions“. The different directions also led to the choice of the three-pointed star as a symbol, among other things. Another important personality was also part of the investment: Wilhelm Maybach.
Daimler and Maybach had both left Nikolaus Otto’s Deutz AG Gasmotorenfabrik in 1882 to explore new business opportunities. Five years later Daimler had already bought a property in Cannstatt, where a foundry was located, to start producing its engines. Daimler’s works were initially used on some boats and trains, but as interest in automobiles grew, more and more companies came to the inventor to acquire the engines.
However, no successful entrepreneurial story is born ready-made. Daimler also had financial difficulties, despite the fact that the turnover was moderate. Production costs were starting to make his life complicated, and he needed help to grow. Thus was born the opportunity to contact future members. Max Duttenhofer and William Lorenz came from the ammunition and gunpowder sector; and Kilian von Steiner was an influential banker. The pact of 1890 was the first brick in a long history for DMG and the future Mercedes (which arrived about ten years later), but for Gottlieb Daimler it was not an ideal choice. In fact, he defined it ‘the covenant of the devil‘, because if he could, he would gladly have continued to work alone. And in fact, three years after the formation of the new company, Daimler came out of it, already suffering from health problems at that time.
It was the new century that brought the decisive changes, which made Mercedes-Benz as strong as the company that still exists today. In particular, the birth of the Mercedes brand and the merger with Benz laid the foundations for greater financial strength. The good plans and technical breakthroughs did the rest.
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