1984

Daimler-Benz AG restructures its activities in the North American commercial vehicle market. The stake in Euclid is sold on to the construction machinery firm Clark Equipment Company, based in Buchanan, Michigan/USA. Commercial vehicle activities in the USA are concentrated in the Freightliner Group as a result.

At the Sindelfingen plant, Dr Rudolf Eberle, Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Economic Affairs, takes delivery of three Mercedes-Benz 230 E passenger cars fitted with closed-loop catalytic converters and designed to run on premium petrol. The cars will be used in a pioneering model test conducted by the state government, in which two identical vehicles without catalytic converter also participate for the purpose of comparison.

The new range of light trucks debuts at the Hanover Trade Fair. Daimler-Benz also presents a number of topics from its R&D work, including the driving dynamics test car, in which the multi-link independent suspension was developed to production standard.

The 290,958th and last van from the internally designated TN series produced at the Daimler-Benz plant in Bremen rolls off the assembly line. Van manufacture has now been totally relocated to the Düsseldorf plant, where the TN has already been in production since 1980 under the internal designation T 1. This move sets the seal on the production restructuring programme, with Bremen now focusing solely on building passenger cars.

Mercedes-Benz offers the car models 190 E (201 series), 230 E (123 series) and 380 SE (126 series) with closed-loop catalytic converter also for the German market as an optional extra. The engines are low-compression units and designed to run on regular-grade unleaded petrol.

Four-and-a-half years after the production start-up, the Gaggenau plant makes the one-millionth torque converter for passenger car automatic transmissions.

In Seville, Spain, Daimler-Benz presents a newly developed generation of mid-range Mercedes cars to the international press. The 124 series comprises the 200 D - 300 E and replaces the 123-series saloon, of which 2.4 million units were built – a new production record. Notable new developments include the two six-cylinder petrol engines from the M 103 series with 2.6 and 3.0 litres displacement and diesel units from the OM 600 engine family, which include the 2-litre four-cylinder OM 601, the 2.5-litre five-cylinder OM 602 and the 3-litre six-cylinder OM 603.

The first units of the new Mercedes-Benz O 405 standard regular service bus, production of which had begun only a short while previously, are delivered to their customers.