In Mannheim, where Karl Benz founded the company Benz & Co and Cannstatt, where the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) company was owned by Gottlieb Daimler.
In 1985, two years after the company was founded, Benz constructed the engine that was responsible for driving the three-wheeled vehicle.
The test drive ended in a collision with the wall.
At that time, Gottlieb Daimler and his assistant Wilhelm Maybach were perfecting the engine of August Otto. In 1883 they patented a high-speed internal combustion engine, and two years later it served as a two-wheel drive.
In 1888, Benz's wife, secretly from her husband, decided to travel from Mannhaim, where the studio was, to Pforzheim, 80 kilometers away. She covered the route with a three-wheeled vehicle and bought fuel in pharmacies. After reaching his destination, Karl Benz received a success telegram. Benz introduced modifications under the influence of Bertha's comments, among others low gear, thanks to which it was possible to overcome hills.
In 1893, Benz Viktoria was created, and in 1894 the Velo model, which was the first Benz vehicle manufactured on an industrial scale. The company began producing commercial vehicles, and in 1895 the first bus was built.
At the same time, not only cars are produced at Daimler's enterprise. Boats are also made and airship experiments are taking place. In the 1890s Daimler and Maybach patented a V-shaped engine and also constructed a 4-speed gearbox and a 4-cylinder power unit. The first car, which was the Phoenix model, was shown in 1897.
Emil Jellinek, Austrian honorary vice consul in Monaco, bought one of Daimler's cars. Because the car attracted a lot of interest, he ordered more copies and sold them at a profit, so he began ordering the next, with the proviso that he wants to have a monopoly on their sale in Austria-Hungary, France, Belgium and America. In addition, he wanted to sell them under the name Mercedes, that is, under the name that was given in honor of his daughter.
Until now, both Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler have competed in the fight for customers. After the First World War, difficulties arose with the sale of vehicles, and in 1924, to overcome the crisis, companies entered into an agreement. Under it, they undertook to cease competition and began cooperation. Two years later, there is a merger and Daimler-Benz A.G. is established. This cooperation turned out to be one of the longest in the history of the automotive industry, since companies in this combination survived until 1998.