Mercedes-Benz is lining up 2026 as a full-on anniversary year, stacking big historical milestones with what it calls the biggest product rollout in its history. The company will mark 140 years since Carl Benz patented his “vehicle with gas-engine drive” in 1886, 100 years since the Mercedes-Benz brand was created by the 1926 merger of Daimler and Benz, and 130 years since its first commercial vehicles.
On top of that, it is celebrating 75 years of the crumple-zone “safety body” patent, 50 years since the W123 launched as the ancestor of today’s E-Class, and 20 years of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
From The First Car To 140 Years Of Benz
The headline date is January 29, 1886, when Benz filed the patent widely considered the birth certificate of the automobile. Mercedes is using “140 years of innovation” as a banner for museum events, special “Classics & Coffee” meets in Stuttgart, and partner exhibitions such as “Mercedes, The Story of the Star” at Autoworld Brussels, which will bring together everything from early three-wheelers to modern hypercars.
Alongside that, the brand is spotlighting 130 years of vans and trucks, including early 1890s transporters, and 75 years since Béla Barényi’s safety-body patent laid the groundwork for crumple zones. It is the kind of historical sweep that helps explain why one enthusiast was able to assemble the ultimate Mercedes collection, spanning everything from classic sedans to modern AMG flagships.
Sasha Lekach
Centenary Of The Star Meets A New Model Blitz
The 1926 merger that created the Mercedes-Benz name gives the brand a clean “100 years of Mercedes-Benz” hook for 2026, and the company is timing a major product cycle to land at the same time. Internal plans call for dozens of new or updated models across its “Entry,” “Core,” and “Top End” segments over 2026 and 2027, including a new CLA family on an “electric-first” platform and fresh SUVs.
Mercedes also plans to lean into G-Class milestones and commercial-vehicle anniversaries, using the moment to connect its EV truck and van plans back to 1890s delivery vehicles and decades of off-road history. The message is that the lineup is changing fast, but the company wants to frame it as evolution from a long-running story rather than a clean break.
Classic AMGs And Future Classics In The Spotlight
Anniversary programming will run alongside a strong collector market for both older and newer Mercedes performance cars. The W123’s 50th birthday is likely to push already rising values for clean examples, but attention is just as strong on modern two-door AMGs that are already being treated as future classics.
Combined with curated auctions built around single-owner Mercedes collections and big heritage events at the museum and major shows, 2026 is shaping up as a year when the brand leans on its back catalog just as hard as it talks about new EVs and software-heavy flagships.
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