Founders

The great Austrian businessman had a daughter named Mercedes, whose beauty had so captivated Carl Friedrich Benz, the founder and owner of Mercedes-Benz, that he named her after his most expensive car. Carl Benz was an automotive engineer and engine designer who is best known for inventing the gasoline-powered car and founding the Mercedes-Benz company. His company Benz & Cie, based in Mannheim, was the world's first automobile manufacturer and the largest at the time. In 1926, it merged with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, which produces the Mercedes-Benz, among other brands. Benz is widely considered the father of the car, as well as the father of the automotive industry.