Mercedes Celebrates 105 Years of Building Four-Wheel Drive Vehicles

The German based automaker Mercedes-Benz is celebrating 105 years since the company has offered, for the first time, the all-wheel drive technology.

“This year marks the 105th anniversary of the very first commercially available four wheel drive vehicle – created in 1907 by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG). The ‘Dernburg-Wagen’ featured not only four-wheel drive but was also equipped with four-wheel steering to aid manoeuvrability”, as Mercedes Benz says in its official press release.

According to the car manufacturer, the first all-wheel drive made by Mercedes-Benz was being offered in an era of dirt roads and the Dernburg-Wagen was the world’s first vehicle to get all-wheel drive. The model was coming with a ground clearance  of 32 cm (12.6 inches) and it has a 6.8 liter four-cylinder engine, producing a total output of 35 horsepower (35 PS / 26 kW), along with four-wheel steering.

Mercedes introduced its ultimate four-wheel drive vehicle, the Unimog, in 1947. Unimog stands for Universalmotorgerat in German, which means universal vehicle. It has always featured four-wheel drive with front and rear differential locks and high ride height.

Today, Mercedes has four SUVs, the Unimog and all-wheel drive versions of some of its cars.

In 1972, Mercedes introduced the G-Class or Geländewagen, which means off-road car. It was intended only for commercial purposes, but like the Jeep it became so popular that it was offered to the public in 1979. Like the Unimog, it is still in production today but with significant upgrades.

Mercedes introduced its 4Matic branded all-wheel system in 1985 on the E-Class. The earliest systems forced drivers to decide on the torque split. There were three options: all power to the rear, 65% to the rear and 50% to the rear. The system was not able to react on its own if it sensed a loss of traction. A new generation of 4Matic came in 1998 that could sense wheel slippage and intervene automatically.

Since the introduction of the Derburg-Wagen in 1907, all-wheel drive has become increasingly normal. Audi popularized the idea of performance all-wheel drive in the 80s, and since then all-wheel drive has become available on increasingly smaller cars. Mercedes plans to give the new A45 AMG all-wheel drive when it is released next year.

One hundred and five years later and the company is still offering the all-wheel drive system but, over the years, a lot of things have changed, including the technology for the 4WD and the engines, but Mercedes-Benz is still offering the AWD system on models like the G-Class, and not only. Thank you, Mercedes, and see you in another 105 years with AWD and new technology.