1983

1 - 20 January 1983
Jacky Ickx and Claude Brasseur win the car classification of the Paris - Dakar Rally in a Mercedes-Benz 280 GE cross-country vehicle. The team of Georges Groine / Thierry de Saulieu / Bernard Malfériol in a Mercedes-Benz 1936 AK all-wheel drive tipper finishes top of the truck classification.

January 1983
Daimler-Benz AG purchases the 180 hectares of "Insel Grün" from the town of Germersheim to set up a central parts store in the largest continuous industrial estate in the Federal Republic of Germany.

1 April 1983
Swiss-based NAW Nutzfahrzeuggesellschaft Arbon & Wetzikon AG begins business. In Arbon special vehicles are built which are based on Mercedes-Benz heavy-duty trucks, while the Wetzikon plant produces bus chassis using Daimler-Benz sub-assemblies.

13/14 April 1983
In Bonn, in an exhibition entitled "Research, Development, Realisation" Daimler-Benz presents the current status and targeted developments in the fields of safety, energy saving, emission control and noise reduction. The displayed technologies include catalytic exhaust gas aftertreatment, indispensable if petrol engines are to meet future emission limits proposed by the Federal Environmental Agency.

11 July 1983
The two-millionth Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle diesel engine built since the start of post-war production leaves the assembly line at the Mannheim plant. The landmark unit is a 390 kW / 530 hp OM 424 A V12 engine, which will find use as a propulsion engine for a heavy truck crane.

13 - 21 August 1983
On the test track in Nardò, Italy, a Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.3-16 covers a distance of 50,000 km in just 201 hours, 39 minutes and 43 seconds, setting a new world record with an average speed of 247.9 km/h. This record-breaking session, in which a total of three vehicles are involved, also includes two world bests over 25,000 km and 25,000 miles, plus nine class records.

15 - 25 September 1983
Two new compact models make their debuts at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt am Main: the 190 D features a four-cylinder diesel engine from the all-new OM 600 engine family, dubbed the "whispering diesel" owing to its noise encapsulation. The 190 E 2.3-16, already known for its world record run in Nardò, Italy, is the first Mercedes-Benz production passenger car with four-valves-per-cylinder technology. Second-generation Mercedes-Benz standard regular service buses also celebrate their premieres. Two prototypes are presented: the O 405 solo vehicle and the O 405 G articulated pusher bus. The drive unit is the newly developed OM 427 h in-line six-cylinder engine, available as a naturally aspirated unit and also as a turbocharged variant. On display is also the new 3850 AS 6x6 heavy-duty tractor, powered by the 368 kW / 500 hp OM 423 LA V10 engine.

November 1983
With the opening of the new Holter Feld facility at the Daimler-Benz plant in Bremen, production of the Mercedes-Benz 201-series compact class can begin. Production of the 123-series estates continues at the original site, now known as the "Südwerk", which had been used up to 1961 by Borgward and from 1962 to 1974 by Hanomag and Hanomag-Henschel.

1 December 1983
Following the untimely death of Dr Gerhard Prinz on 29 October, Prof. Werner Breitschwerdt is appointed Chairman of the Board of Management. Dr Rudolf Hörnig takes over the Research and Development unit on 3 May 1984.