Berlin dealership celebrates centennial: 100 years of Mercedes-Benz sales in Germany

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Berlin, Germany, Jan 29, 2009

* Ceremony in the Mercedes World on Salzufer marks centennial of the Berlin company-owned sales and service outlet

* Curtain-raiser for four more anniversaries of company-owned outlets opened in Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt and D�sseldorf in 1909

* Historic basis of the present Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation in Germany

The Berlin company-owned sales and service outlet extended invitations to a ceremony which took place today to mark its 100th anniversary. Some 800 guests attended the function at the Mercedes World Berlin on Salzufer. At the same time, this event is the start of a series of jubilees at the Mercedes-Benz-owned sales and service outlets established in Dresden, Hamburg, Frankfurt and D�sseldorf in 1909. The founding of these outlets is the historic basis of the present-day Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation in Germany.


Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: "The connection between Daimler and Berlinevolved historically and now dates back even more than one hundred years."

The first car registered in Berlin in 1902 was a Daimler, and the factory in Marienfelde, set up in the same year, is the oldest Daimler factory in the world. "Today and in future, too, Berlin retains its central significance for us on the way to the automobile of the future: last year we took an important step towards emission-free mobility with our 'e-mobility Berlin' project." Berlinalso is the site of the first European service station for emission-free fuel-cell-powered vehicles of Daimler AG.

January 1st, 1909 is considered the official founding day of the Berlin sales and service outlet of Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG): it was created from the existing showroom at the prestigious Unter den Linden 78 address and a separate repair shop. Just a few years later, DMG inaugurated a house-cum-showroom in Berlin which already then combined sales with the brand world and entertainment.

The tradition of making the Mercedes-Benz brand a tangible experience for customers and visitors lives on to this day in the capital city. At the Benz & Cie. site on Salzufer, in use since 1915, the new headquarters of the Berlin sales and service outlet was erected in 2000. The Berlin outlet has a total of 1400 employees at nine locations to make it one of the capital's biggest employers. The vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand find a befitting stage for presentation to customers and visitors in the brand and event world on Salzufer. The Mercedes World can boast more than one million visitors to around 200 events annually, including model premieres, receptions and public viewing of sports events. It has again become one of the city's social meeting points.

100 years of Mercedes-Benz sales in Germany

Dr. Klaus Maier, Manager Sales and Marketing Mercedes-Benz Cars: "The founding of the first five company-owned sales and service outlets forms the basis for the present-day Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation in Germany. With a total of 34 company-owned branches plus around 600 sales and service partners throughout Germany, we have an efficient nationwide network at our disposal today. At 1200 locations in all, 60,000 employees provide optimum care and support to our customers." As a part of Daimler AG, today the Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation Germany with its staff of 1200 bears responsibility for the national sales of the brands Mercedes-Benz, smart, Maybach, AMG and Mitsubishi Fuso.

In the outgoing 19th/early 20th century, sales of Mercedes and Benz automobiles were still fully in the hands of independently operating agents. The best-known example is the Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek, who resided in Nice and was the creator of the brand name Mercedes. When car sales declined in 1906 and 1907 as a result of the troubled world economy, DMG relied on a separate sales organisation to enable it to respond on its own to market happenings. At Benz & Cie. in Mannheim, almost simultaneously similar reasons led to the establishment of Benz-owned sales and service outlets.

1909 thus saw the establishment of five company-owned sales and service outlets at once: in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dresden, D�sseldorf and Hamburg. In 1926 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. merged to form Daimler-Benz AG, carrying on their business from then on jointly. Vehicles are sold both through the company-owned outlets and through independent agents and dealers. This system ensures that all car customers � those outside the big cities too � can be reached and creates a service network affording comprehensive coverage. In 1914 DMG already had around 70 sales outlets and agencies worldwide, in New York, London, Cairo, St. Petersburg, Bangkok and other cities.

From 1939 onwards, the Second World War brought car production and sales practically to a standstill. Factories and branches of Daimler-Benz AG were destroyed and had to be rebuilt after 1945. During the "Economic Miracle" period in the 1950s and 1960s car sales boomed. Sports cars like the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing symbolised the freedom of the road. Simultaneously, truck production expanded as goods traffic increasingly shifted to the highway. Buses, vans and the Unimog complemented the product range. The extended product offer caused the demands on the company-owned outlets and the dealers to grow. Daimler-Benz AG responded by setting up the Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation Germany for the purpose of concerted, brand-adequate marketing of its vehicles. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, the German sales organisation relocated from Stuttgart to Berlin in 1998.

More information about the Mercedes-Benz Sales Organisation is available in the internet at www.mbvd.de .




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