The origin of the Mercedes-Benz is credited to the three men who created the first modern automobile: Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and, Daimler's engineer, Wilhelm Maybach. But the luxury car today may never have been created if not for the entrepreneurial spirit of Emil Jellinek, who insisted that a revolutionary sports car be named after his daughter, Mercedes. Emil Jellinek was a well-known entrepreneur who was a board member of the automobile company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, or DMG, which was founded by Daimler in 1890. Jellinek asked Maybach to produce at least 35 cars built to his liking by October 1900. Maybach agreed to Jellinek's controlling requirements. Jellinek established the distribution network and Maybach began building the car. The first Mercedes was powered by a 6-liter inline four-cylinder 35-horsepower engine with twin carburetors and a four-speed manual transmission. Its top speed was 53.5 mph. The vehicle quickly became the preferred luxury car for royalty. It also was instantly transformed into a race car that won numerous European road rallies. In 1926, DMG and Benz & Co. finally merged to become Daimler-Benz. Karl Benz served on the board of directors until his death in 1929. Maybach also died in 1929, but he had left DMG in 1907. Jellinek died in 1918 after being hounded by the French governent as a German spy. All Daimler and Benz cars under the partnership were to be jointly named Mercedes-Benz.
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