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Mercedes-Benz celebrates car’s 125th birthday

No one has called for a holiday, but this weekend officially marks the birth of the automobile industry.

For the record, it was 125 years ago that an inventive German named Carl Benz applied for a patent from German officials on Jan. 29, 1886, for a vehicle driven by a small engine. “This marked the birth of the automobile. Mercedes-Benz has since had around 80,000 pioneering inventions patented,” the automaker notes on its website.

Moreover, while some historians might disagree, Daimler AG is fully prepared to support its claim to laying the foundation for the modern automobile industry that reaches every corner of the world today. It can back up its claim with the patent, which was eventually issued to Benz by German authorities and launched Mercedes-Benz. “There is a little bit of Mercedes in every car built in the world today,” Daimler AG chief executive officer Dieter Zetsche observed during an appearance at the recent North American International Auto Show in Detroit....
Read entire article at Oakland Free Press