Milestones Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant 09.02.2023: 1915 Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) acquires 51 hectares of land in Sindelfingen for an aircraft factory and an automobile body plant. 1916 Construction of the first aircraft assembly hall begins. The building still exists today. 191

    1915 Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG) acquires 51 hectares of land in Sindelfingen for an aircraft factory and an automobile body plant.


    1916 Construction of the first aircraft assembly hall begins. The building still exists today.


    1917 Delivery of the first aircraft with Daimler engines from Sindelfingen.


    1918 The plant, previously under the management of Untertürkheim, becomes an independent operation.


    1918 The Untertürkheim body department begins moving to Sindelfingen.


    1919 Production of car bodies begins. The first vehicle is the Mercedes-Knight 16/45 hp.


    1919 Sindelfingen produces furniture as emergency products.


    1924 After a study trip to the USA, Wilhelm Friedle, who later became director of operations, became involved in modernising the body shop based on the model of the Ford Motor Company.


    1928 Conversion of the press shop from manual single-part production to series production with deep-drawing presses.


    1930s Introduction and restructuring of assembly line production.


    1946 The 170 V (W 136) is built as a flatbed, panel van and ambulance, from 1947 also as a four-door saloon. This marks the start of passenger car production after the Second World War II.


    1952 The 100,000th Sindelfingen passenger car since 1946 is built, a Mercedes-Benz 170 S (W 136).


    1953 Premiere of the Mercedes-Benz 180 (W 120) "Ponton" in Sindelfingen. First Mercedes-Benz passenger car with self-supporting body.


    1954 Start of production of the 300 SL (W 198), from 1955 also of the 190 SL (W 121).


    1959 Start of the first systematic crash tests in Sindelfingen.


    1962 The one millionth passenger car in post-war production from Sindelfingen leaves the assembly line: a Mercedes-Benz 220 SE "tail fin" (W 111).


    1966 Sindelfingen produces more than 200,000 passenger cars in one year for the first time


    1969 In May, for the first time the plant produces more than 1,000 vehicles a day produced at the plant.


    1971 2nd International ESV Conference in Sindelfingen, Mercedes-Benz presents the ESF 05 experimental safety vehicle.
    1972 Europe's first fully automatic robot transfer line goes into operation in the body shop


    1972 Production start of the 116 luxury class series, called "S-Class" for the first time.


    1976 Production capacity is to increase to 430,000 vehicles per year by 1986.


    1979 Partial automation of the production lines is introduced with the start of production of the S-Class 126 series.


    1981 Opening of the new customer centre for the personal collection of new vehicles.


    1994 Ground-breaking ceremony for a new development and preparation centre.


    1994 Kick-off for the nationwide switch to water-based body paints.


    1995 Opening of the world's first designo consulting centre.


    1998 Inauguration of the Mercedes-Benz Technology Center.


    2000 Inauguration of the most modern virtual reality centre in the automotive industry.


    2002 Opening of the Centre of Excellence for the luxury brands Maybach and SLR McLaren brands.


    2002 Transport by rail with closed car transport trains begins.


    2006 New start-up factory for prototype construction and next-generation vehicles.


    2009 Entry into plastics processing for body parts with the CL-Class rear lid of the C 216 series made of glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP).


    2014 The production method of heat-assisted forming (HEF) is used for the first time in the start-up of the new S-Class Coupé.


    2014 Start of production of the Mercedes-AMG GT (model series 197).


    2015 Celebration of the centenary. The site has around 37,000 employees.


    2015 The 20 millionth vehicle is built in Sindelfingen, an S 500 e Plug-in Hybrid from the 222 series.


    2016 Opening of the Technology Centre for Vehicle Safety (TFS).


    2018 Starting signal for Factory 56 for the highest possible flexibility and efficiency.


    2020 Opening of Factory 56 and start of production of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class (model series 223).


    2021 Start of production of the EQS (model series 297): the first electric luxury saloon from Factory 56.


    2022 Start of production of the latest generation of the GLC (model series 254) and opening of the Electric Software Hub.




  Birgit Zaiser- photo Mercedes archive