Bengaluru is part of Mercedes-Benz’s 140-year global anniversary tour

Bengaluru became part of a transcontinental drive christened “140 Years, 140 Places”, conducted by Mercedes-Benz to celebrate 140 years since Carl Benz, the German mechanical engineer and inventor widely regarded as the father of the modern automobile, filed the patent for the world’s first automobile in 1886. Departing from Mercedes-Benz’s global headquarters in Stuttgart earlier this year, three S-Class sedans have travelled more than 40,000 kilometres across 23 countries and five continents, bringing the global anniversary celebration to Bengaluru.

These cars are named after the pioneers of the automobile: Carl Benz, Bertha Benz (Carl’s wife and business partner who undertook the world’s first long-distance road trip of 66 miles in 1888 to prove the car worked) and Gottlieb Daimler (a German engineer and industrial designer, who along with partner Wilhelm Maybach, independently developed a high-speed four-stroke engine and built the first four-wheeled motorised carriage in 1886).