1969

1 January 1969
Daimler-Benz extends its sales organisation in France by acquiring the majority of the shares of SOFIDEL S.A.

9 January 1969
The 500,000th diesel engine for commercial vehicles from post-war production is produced at the Mannheim plant.

15 - 26 January 1969
The coupé models 250 C and 250 CE (W 114) make their show debut at the Brussels Motor Show.

February 1969
The Spanish company CISPALSA (Compañía Hispano Alemana de Productos Mercedes-Benz, S.A.), in which Daimler-Benz AG has a 50.5 % holding, is founded through an amalgamation of ENMASA in Barcelona and the Daimler-Benz general distributor IDASA based in Madrid.

1 April 1969
Hanomag-Henschel Fahrzeugwerke GmbH, in which Daimler-Benz has a 51 % stake, takes out a lease from Rheinstahl Hanomag AG and Rheinstahl Henschel AG on the plants in Bremen, Hamburg-Harburg and Kassel-Mittelfeld, which have a combined workforce of approximately 10,000.

July 1969
Daimler-Benz and MAN (Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG) merge their high-performance diesel engine and turbocharged aircraft engine sectors and set up the MTU Group. Maybach Mercedes-Benz Motorenbau GmbH becomes MTU Motoren- und Turbinen-Union Friedrichshafen GmbH and MAN-Turbo GmbH evolves into MTU Motoren-und Turbinen-Union München GmbH. The MTU Munich shares are split equally between Daimler-Benz and MAN. MTU Munich has an 84 % stake in MTU Friedrichshafen, whilst 16 % of the company remains in private hands.

6 August 1969
The 250,000th Mercedes-Benz passenger car with petrol injection engine leaves the production line at the plant in Sindelfingen. The landmark vehicle is a 280 SE from the W 108 series.

1 September 1969
In Bremen the first Hanomag-Henschel light van comes off the assembly line after the plant took over the production of panel vans and crewbuses of this series from Hamburg-Harburg.

11 - 21 September 1969
The International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main is the venue for the debut of the Mercedes-Benz C 111 experimental car, which is fitted with a 280 hp / 206 kW three-rotor Wankel engine and a plastic body. Other new arrivals include the passenger car models 300 SEL 3.5 (W 109) and the 280 SE 3.5 Coupé and Convertible (W 111), all powered by a 3.5-litre M 116 V8 engine developing 200 hp / 147 kW. The electrically-driven OE 302 test bus also celebrates its premiere. The electric motor is fed by a battery charged by a diesel generator set – an early example of hybrid drive technology. Daimler-Benz presents the first automatic transmission for commercial vehicles at the show: the W 3 D 080 three-speed automatic transmission with torque converter, offered as special equipment for urban buses. The new long-haul trucks LP 1632 and LP 2032 introduce the hydraulically tilting cab to the truck range. They are powered by the entirely new V10 diesel engine OM 403. The 320 hp / 235 kW direct injection unit

September 1969
In addition to the new Mercedes-Benz car models with the 3.5-litre engine a further body variant of the mid-range series W 114 / W 115 is released for sale: the four-door extended saloon with longer wheelbase, designed as a 7/8-seater and first offered in the model variants 220 D and 230.

27 November 1969
Mietanlagen Industrievertriebs-GmbH is set up as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz AG and takes over the entire leasing business for Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

November 1969
On the initiative of Prof. Hans Scherenberg, the Board of Management member responsible for development, Daimler-Benz sets up the "Central Research" department in Untertürkheim. Prof. Hans-Joachim Förster is charged with building it. The unit's aim is to gather knowledge about new technologies and on that basis develop concepts for the future.