April

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.

At the Pau Grand Prix in France, the first outing for the 3-litre formula racing car revised and equipped for the 1939 season with the new M 163 engine, Mercedes-Benz posts a double victory with Hermann Lang and Manfred von Brauchitsch. Hermann Lang also wins the International Eifel Race on the Nürburgring on 21 May and the Belgian Grand Prix on 25 June.

Dr Carl Benz, inventor of the automobile and the company's founding father, dies at the age of 84 in Ladenburg.

Mercedes-Benz presents the new generation of medium-duty trucks at the Hanover Trade Fair. The new MK trucks, offered as platform trucks, semitrailer tractors and construction site vehicles, feature the up-to-date cabs of the SK heavy-duty models introduced a year earlier. The power plant is the 160 kW / 218 hp OM 441 V6 engine.

In the first race of the Sports Car World Championship in Suzuka, Japan, the Sauber-Mercedes C 9 cars compete with a new engine and silver-coloured body. The further developed Mercedes-Benz M 119 V8 engine now features four-valves-per-cylinder technology and an even higher performance potential. Mauro Baldi / Jean-Louis Schlesser and Kenny Acheson drive the new Silver Arrows to a one-two win in the car's very first competitive outing.

The Unimog models U 2100 and U 2150 (437 series) debut at the BAUMA trade fair in Munich. With an output of 157 kW / 214 hp they venture into a new performance dimension.

At its Research Centre in Ulm, Daimler-Benz presents a fuel cell powered vehicle based on the MB 100 and christened NECAR (New Electric Car). The only exhaust gases emitted by this new model – developed in close cooperation with the Canadian firm Ballard Power Systems based in Vancouver – are fresh air and water vapour.

At the curtain-raiser to the DTM season on the Hockenheimring, Gary Paffett posts his first DTM victory and a first win for the new AMG-Mercedes C-Class racing touring car.

In Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, Helmut Werner, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz AG, and Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Engineering and Locomotive Co. (TELCO) headquartered in Bombay, sign an agreement on a joint venture in which Mercedes-Benz AG holds a 51 % share. The purpose of the company is to produce E-Class passenger cars and Mercedes-Benz engines in Pune, India. Mercedes-Benz India, Ltd. is founded on 22 November.

The Board of Management and Supervisory Board of DaimlerChrysler AG decide at an extraordinary meeting not to participate in the capital increase planned by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and to cease further financial support for MMC. Contractually agreed projects will be continued.

The SLK study celebrates its world premiere at the Turin Motor Show. The purist roadster is a milestone in the development of the compact, sporty two-seater that comes onto the market as the SLK in 1996.

DaimlerChrysler opens Latin America's first Mercedes-Benz passenger car production and assembly plant in Juiz de Fora in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The new facility, built on the back of investment totaling € 760 million, will accommodate production of the A-Class for the South American market.

The Corporate Works Council of the Daimler-Benz Group assembles at the Haus Lämmerbuckel training centre. Herbert Lucy, who is simultaneously Chairman of the Central Works Council of Daimler-Benz AG, is elected the body's first Chairman.

At the Madonie race course in Sicily, DMG works driver Christian Werner wins the Targa Florio over 432 km and, after an additional lap of 108 km, the Coppa Florio, recording the first major race victories for the new Mercedes 2-litre racing car with four-cylinder supercharged engine.

Daimler AG, Chrysler, Cerberus and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), a US government agency, sign an agreement covering the outstanding issues between the parties relating to Chrysler. Daimler relinquishes its remaining 19.9 % stake in Chrysler and agrees to waive repayment of loans made to Chrysler. Daimler will also help safeguard the payment of pensions to former DaimlerChrysler employees by making three annual payments of USD 200 million each into the Chrysler pension plans.

With the Motor Velocipede ("Velo"), Benz & Cie. adds a very reasonably priced compact model to its sales range. The Benz Velo becomes the world's first volume-produced automobile: a total of 1,200 units in all variants are built up to 1901.

In Untertürkheim the first Mercedes-Benz G 4 vehicle is completed and starts testing. The cross-country three-axle passenger car is based on the design of the G 3a truck.

Mercedes-AMG GmbH presents a whole series of new sporty high-performance models. The most powerful SL to date is the SL 73 AMG, equipped with a 386 kW / 525 hp 7.3-litre V12 engine from the M 120 series; the S 55 AMG, SL 55 AMG and G 55 AMG models have a 5.5-litre V8 unit from the M 113 series that develops up to 265 kW / 360 hp.