Nowadays, the BBA (BMW, Benz, Audi) are dominating the market, but over 60 years ago, Mercedes-Benz almost ruled the industry alone.

Today, the market is dominated by the BBA (BMW, Benz, Audi) brands, but it's hard to believe that just 60 years ago, Mercedes-Benz reigned supreme as the sole industry leader.

【PhoneAuto】 Although domestic car companies have been rapidly developing in recent years, when it comes to luxury brands in China, most people would still think of the big three: BBA (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi). There is no doubt that these three companies still have significant influence, both in China and in the global market, and they have always been representatives of luxury brands. However, what you may not know is that over 60 years ago, the current three major car companies almost ended up being dominated by Mercedes-Benz alone.

Audi Mercedes-Benz BMW

In early 1958, Daimler-Benz, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, approved the plan to acquire nearly 88% of the shares of Auto Union. Auto Union was a car group that owned Audi and three other brands. These four brands were Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer, and they announced their alliance in 1932. However, Auto Union almost went bankrupt after World War II and was not revived until 1949.

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Friedrich Flick, the main shareholder of Daimler-Benz, proposed the idea of ​​cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union. He believed that the two companies could achieve a good fit through synergies and cost reductions. Less than two years after the two companies signed an agreement, the luxury brand with the three-pointed star logo acquired the remaining shares. This transaction made Auto Union a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler-Benz.

Auto Union Peugeot

1959 could have been a more important year in history if another merger between German luxury brands had succeeded. Daimler-Benz was still seeking expansion and almost bought BMW in the months following the acquisition of Auto Union. At BMW’s annual shareholders’ meeting in December 1959, “selling the company to Daimler-Benz seemed to be a done deal,” according to a BMW press release.

BMW was struggling in the late 1950s as sales of cars and motorcycles were low. BMW stated in a press release at the time that the company was on the verge of financial collapse. Finding a new owner was seen by many executives as a solution to save BMW from further crisis.

At the time, it seemed like selling the company to Daimler-Benz was a done deal for BMW, but the transaction ultimately did not happen. Due to strong resistance from stubborn minority shareholders against the restructuring plan in the acquisition, Daimler-Benz was ultimately unable to successfully acquire BMW. BMW’s shareholders disagreed with the restructuring plan proposed by Daimler-Benz because they felt that BMW and its employees were undervalued.

BMW has been operating as an independent brand ever since, struggling to make progress. However, in 1960, the major shareholder at the time, Herbert Quandt, devised a restructuring plan. The new BMW 700 led the brand towards revival, receiving 30,000 orders before even being put into production. With the help of the BMW 700, sales began to rise, but it was the BMW 1500 that truly changed the fate of the company. After several decades of development, it became the cornerstone of BMW’s current sales – the BMW 3 Series.

BMW 1500

Although the merger with BMW failed, Daimler-Benz still held an automotive alliance. Unfortunately, this did not last long as on January 1, 1965, Volkswagen became the majority shareholder by acquiring 50.3% of the automotive alliance. At the end of 1966, Volkswagen bought the remaining shares, officially making the automotive alliance its wholly-owned subsidiary. In 1969, the automotive alliance merged with NSU Motorenwerke AG and created Audi NSU Auto Union AG. In 1985, this evolved into the present-day Audi AG.

While the automotive alliance only lasted a few years under Daimler-Benz, it still received sufficient attention. Daimler’s engineers were sent from Stuttgart-Untertürkheim to Ingolstadt to develop a new four-cylinder engine. This engine, known as the M118, was initially showcased in September 1965 on a car with the automotive alliance logo, becoming the first post-World War II vehicle equipped with a four-stroke engine. Additionally, it was the first vehicle to bear the classic Audi four-ringed logo after the war. Initially named Audi, it was later renamed Audi 72 after its horsepower output (72PS).

Audi acquired engine technology from Daimler-Benz, while Daimler, in turn, received a factory from Audi. In 1962, Audi rented out its facility in Düsseldorf to Daimler. When Volkswagen acquired Audi three years later, Daimler kept this factory and continues to use it to this day. It is currently the company’s largest truck factory and the primary assembly plant for the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

Mercedes-Benz W118

The separation of Daimler and Audi also impacted Mercedes-Benz’s future product planning. Daimler planned to introduce a compact sedan, internally coded as W118. It was powered by the aforementioned M118 engine but never made it to production. Mercedes also developed a two-door coupe, codenamed W119, which also did not enter production. Both cars were developed in 1962 and utilized a front-wheel drive layout.

In December 1965, Fritz Nallinger, the head of development at Daimler-Benz, explained why these cars were not put into production shortly before his retirement: “At that time, we were already testing the aforementioned models, and they could have been manufactured by BMW or Audi. I believe that the second model in particular could be considered a universal type of vehicle, and it must be rebuilt and tested as soon as possible.”

Mercedes-Benz W119

However, none of this happened. It was not until 1982 that the W201 was introduced as the entry-level Mercedes-Benz. Today, it has evolved into the C-Class, but its position within the vehicle lineup has changed. Initially, it was positioned as an entry-level model, but now the C-Class has been elevated in positioning, with the current entry-level model being the A-Class.

As early as the early 1960s, the aforementioned entry-level Mercedes-Benz models were almost ready for production, especially the interior of the W118 vehicle, which had already been finalized. However, they were ultimately not put into production. Nevertheless, in 1963, Audi introduced the DKW F102, which was not very different in design. However, it lacked a four-stroke engine and instead used DKW’s 60-horsepower two-stroke engine.

DKW F102

A few months after the introduction of the DKW F102 as the last model under the DKW brand, Audi decided to replace the outdated 1.2-liter inline-three-cylinder engine with a powertrain developed by Mercedes-Benz for future models. For different applications, the more modern four-cylinder M118 engine could produce up to 89 horsepower and was produced until 1972, when it was eventually replaced by Volkswagen’s own EA827 engine.

Now, it may be a regret for Mercedes-Benz that they were not able to dominate the German luxury brand market back then. However, for consumers around the world, it is definitely a blessing. If Mercedes-Benz had successfully acquired BMW and Audi and continued until now, perhaps we would not see the competition between these three in different fields, and ultimately, it would be us, the consumers, who would be affected.

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