Most automotive brands celebrate milestones with big parties, museum displays, launching limited-edition models, or hosting roadshows. Mercedes-Benz, however, is marking 140 years of the modern car by testing the new S-Class on the open road. Here’s everything you need to know about this ultimate endurance test, which will soon play out on Indian roads.
What is the ‘140 Years. 140 Places’ tour?
It’s a transcontinental drive to celebrate 140 years of the invention of the car – Mercedes-Benz’s 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen (patented on January 29, 1886) is widely recognised as the world’s first car.
The drive started earlier this year at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart alongside the premiere of the new S-Class, and three cars aim to cover 60,000 km across six continents and 55 countries, stopping at 140 cultural and historical locations before reaching Germany in October.
Do these cars have names?
Yes, the three S-Class sedans in the convoy are named Carl, Gottlieb, and Bertha.
Carl: Named after Carl Benz, the visionary engineer who filed the original 1886 automobile patent.
Gottlieb: Named after Gottlieb Daimler, the man who built the world’s first motorised four-wheeled carriage soon after Benz’s car.
Bertha: Dedicated to Bertha Benz, Carl’s wife, who financed his work and famously completed the world’s first long-distance car road trip to prove its commercial viability.
Where all have the cars been so far?
These three cars took a westward route and traversed multiple European countries before heading to the US, Brazil, Chile, Japan, South Korea, China, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore, and will soon head to India. Post that, these will be driven in the Middle East and Africa, and finally back to Stuttgart.
How does the India leg look like?
It’s arguably the most gruelling test for the S-Class, as these cars will take two distinct routes in the huge subcontinent – likely in July-August. While Carl and Bertha will be driven across the country’s western and southern corridors, Gottlieb will possibly face the test of its lifetime when it goes north and then heads east. It will aim to climb the Himalayas and reach Umling La – the highest motorable road in the world – where thin oxygen, extreme elevation changes, and brutal mountain passes will test its suspension and powertrain to their limits. Hopefully it will survive, and then will be driven from Bhutan’s capital Thimphu to New Delhi.
Is it just a unique marketing campaign?
No. Mercedes-Benz has stated that it is a rolling engineering laboratory – because while there are local drivers in most countries, factory technicians and engineers are also present in these cars, testing how Stuttgart’s finest engineering invention is tackling the world’s toughest terrains.
