Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart - Men, masters and motor engines
Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach did their utmost, therefore, to ensure that their engines were able to deliver more than the original 0.75 to 1.1 hp and that their “motor carriages” were capable of accelerating at ever-increasing speeds. 20 km/h – that was the target everyone was aiming for back then. However, it’s one thing to develop technology further; it’s quite another to convince customers to buy it. If Carl Benz originally thought that a good product like his patent motor car would sell itself just like that, he very soon realised that his invention would not be successful without publicity. Just like Gottlieb Daimler, he visited regional and national trade fairs, travelled abroad and even presented his car at the World Exhibition in Paris in May 1889. However, the rewards for all of these efforts were small. The order books remained empty. So, another way had to be found to promote the motor car and to inspire confidence in its technology. In short, they had to come up with a new advertising concept. And it came from France. The French newspaper Le Petit Journal, with its colour weekly supplement, was seen as particularly innovative and was also renowned for its highprofile advertising campaigns. After organising the first long-distance cycling race back in 1891, the newspaper’s publisher Pierre Giffard came up with the idea at the end of 1893 of holding a competition for “Voitures sans cheveaux” – vehicles without horses. Along the 126-km route from Paris to Rouen, steam-, battery- and petrolpowered vehicles were required to demonstrate not only their speed but also their reliability and operating safety.
Carl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach did their utmost, therefore, to ensure that their engines were able to deliver more than the original 0.75 to 1.1 hp and that their “motor carriages” were capable of accelerating at ever-increasing speeds. 20 km/h – that was the target everyone was aiming for back then. However, it’s one thing to develop technology further; it’s quite another to convince customers to buy it. If Carl Benz originally thought that a good product like his patent motor car would sell itself just like that, he very soon realised that his invention would not be successful without publicity. Just like Gottlieb Daimler, he visited regional and national trade fairs, travelled abroad and even presented his car at the World Exhibition in Paris in May 1889. However, the rewards for all of these efforts were small. The order books remained empty. So, another way had to be found to promote the motor car and to inspire confidence in its technology. In short, they had to come up with a new advertising concept. And it came from France. The French newspaper Le Petit Journal, with its colour weekly supplement, was seen as particularly innovative and was also renowned for its highprofile advertising campaigns. After organising the first long-distance cycling race back in 1891, the newspaper’s publisher Pierre Giffard came up with the idea at the end of 1893 of holding a competition for “Voitures sans cheveaux” – vehicles without horses. Along the 126-km route from Paris to Rouen, steam-, battery- and petrolpowered vehicles were required to demonstrate not only their speed but also their reliability and operating safety.