Many big companies in the automotive industry have a very rich history. Some of the companies are carrying out their legacy passing on to the next generation. And in other cases, major investors acquire the company’s stake by breaking it into fragments. This is due to the heavy loss or many other internal reasons. Daimler is a world-renowned company for commercial vehicles and automobiles. It has its history date back to the late 1890s.
The company’s name Daimler AG has seen other forms in the past 120 years of its reign. But, it started originally with the name, The Daimler Motor Company Limited. Henry John Lawson, mostly known as Harry Lawson formed this company in 1896. Since then Daimler has faced different phases of leadership and expansion. Currently, its headquarters is situated in Stuttgart, Germany.
About Harry Lawson Founder of Daimler Ag
Born to Thomas Lawson and Anne Lucy Kent on 23rd February 1852, Harry showed great interest in designing bicycles. He was born and raised in the City of London. In 1873, the entire family moved to Brighton. This is when Harry started designing various types of bicycles. Today, he is popular as one of the first inventors of modern bicycles.
From designing bicycles, Harry showed interest in opening a motor car company. He saw a very vast opportunity in this industry, especially in Britain. Harry moved to Coventry in the 1880s and along with Frederick Simms founded the Motor Car Club of Britain in 1895. This was when the British government was carrying out the Locomotive Acts.
So, on 14th November 1896, Harry arranged the first London to Brighton Car run to celebrate the elimination of the Red Flag Act. This gave Britain the right to develop its motor industry. In Harry’s attempts to monopolize the British automobile industry, he bought many foreign patents and founded a series of companies. Some of the companies include The British Motor Syndicate, British Motor Traction Company, Motor Manufacturing Company, The Daimler Motor Company Limited, etc.
But, out of all these companies, only Daimler hit a huge success. And, the reason behind this was Gottlieb Daimler. Later, he suffered a lot of legal acquisitions regarding patent rights. He died on 12th July 1925.
Early History
On 1st May 1924, the companies, Benz & Cie and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) signed a mutual agreement and continued their respective production. But, on 28th June 1926, both the companies merged and the company became Daimler-Benz AG. And, the company declared that Mercedes-Benz is going to be the brand name.
The word Mercedes came from the company’s most successful series, the Mercedes. After DMG passed away in 1900, companies like Daimler Motor Company and Austro-Daimler used the brand name, Daimler. So, Daimler-Benz used the name Mercedes for business.
Many companies formed before World War II is mostly known for producing military vehicles as well. Daimler-Benz was no exception and thus created engines for German aircraft, submarines, and tanks. During the war, the company used 60,000 prisoners from concentration camps for production. The early phase of Daimler-Benz came to an end with the acquisition of MTU Friedrichshafen in 1995.
The Second Merger
In 1998, Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corporation merged to form DaimlerChrysler AG. In the 1990s, the merger valued $38 billion and it was one of the largest deals cross-border deals. But, the merger brought a lot of lawsuits in the house. Some were settled and rest was dismissed. But, this affected the company’s share price. Questions were raised if the two companies integrated successfully or not.
So, in 2002 DaimlerChrysler introduced products that used elements from both sides of the merged company. After a few years, the company decided to sell the Chrysler unit to Cerberus Capital Management. The company announced that it faced a $1.5 billion loss in 2006. And, confirmed the Chrysler unit acquisition in August 2007. Cerberus acquired an 80.1% stake of Chrysler Holding LLC and the rest was still under Daimler AG. But, Chrysler was still in a very bad condition and declared bankruptcy in 2009.
Present Day
In 2015, Daimler AG bought Nokia’s Here digital maps division along with BMW and Volkswagen Group. Daimler started making smart investments and acquired many car start-ups. It wants to expand from just being a production unit of automobiles. In 2017, the company came into a joint partnership with Via, a ride-sharing app. The company also showed an interest in automotive cars and electric vehicles.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more