Mercedes-Benz at the 2010 "Mondial de l'Automobile" in Paris

"Liberte, Egalite, E-Mobilite" - Prelude to the Second Automobile Revolution

PARIS - September 29, 2010: Mercedes-Benz, the inventor of the automobile, is starting its activities surrounding the 125th anniversary of the automobile with a bold look forward. Today, January 29, 2011 will be 125 years to the day when Carl Benz submitted his patent application for the first automobile, the three-wheel "Tricycle". In parallel, Gottlieb Daimler was developing the first four-wheel motor car. Thus, independently from each other, the two inventors laid the foundation stone for the modern automobile and motorized individual transportation.

"The invention created by Daimler and Benz changed the world and affected virtually every aspect of daily life," says Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, on the eve of the Paris Motor Show in the premiere cinema theater UCG Normandie on the Champs Elysees. "Now we are inventing the automobile for the second time. And the effect will once again be revolutionary." Along the lines of "Liberte, Egalite, E-Mobilite" Zetsche decribed the role of the automobile in the modern society, the accumulated demand for automobiles in the emerging markets, such as China, Russia or India, and Mercedes-Benz solutions for sustainable mobility.