Mercedes-Benz

Type	Division of Daimler AG
Industry	Manufacturing
Predecessor	Benz & Cie. Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft
Founded	1886
Founder(s)	Karl Benz Gottlieb Daimler
Headquarters	Stuttgart, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Dieter Zetsche, Chairman
Products	Automobiles Trucks Buses Internal combustion engines
Services	Financial services
Parent	Daimler AG
Website	www.mercedes-benz.com

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Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG. The name first appeared in 1926 but traces its origins to Daimler's 1901 Mercedes and to Karl Benz's 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen, widely regarded as the first automobile.

Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to Karl Benz's creation of the first petrol-powered car, the Benz Patent Motorwagen, patented in January 1886 and Gottlieb Daimler and engineer Wilhelm Maybach's conversion of a stagecoach by the addition of a petrol engine later that year. The Mercedes automobile was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. The first Mercedes-Benz brand name vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz's and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company. Mercedes-Benz has introduced many technological and safety innovations that later became common in other vehicles. Mercedes-Benz is one of the most well-known and established automotive brands in the world, and is also the world's oldest automotive brand still in existence today. For information relating to the famous three-pointed star, see under the title Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft including the merger into Daimler-Benz.

As part of the Daimler AG company, the Mercedes-Benz Cars division includes Mercedes-Benz, Smart and Maybach car production.

Mercedes-Benz AMG became a majority owned division of Mercedes-Benz in 1998. The company was integrated into DaimlerChrysler in 1999, and became Mercedes-Benz AMG beginning on 1 January 1999.

Between 2003 and 2009, Mercedes-Benz produced a limited-production sports car with McLaren Cars, an extension of the collaboration by which Mercedes engines are used by the Team McLaren-Mercedes Formula One racing team, which is part owned by Mercedes. McLaren ceased production of the SLR in 2009 and went on to develop its own car, the McLaren MP4-12C, launched in 2011.

In 1958, Mercedes-Benz entered into a distribution agreement with the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana (USA), makers of Studebaker and Packard brand automobilesUnder the deal, Studebaker would allow Mercedes-Benz access to its dealer network in the U.S., handle shipments of vehicles to the dealers, and in return, receive compensation for each car sold. Mercedes-Benz maintained an office within the Studebaker works in South Bend from 1958 to 1963, when Studebaker's U.S. operations ceased. Many U.S Studebaker dealers converted to Mercedes-Benz dealerships at that time.