Fifty Years of Mercedes-Benz in Australia

The 1980s

The S-Class won Australia’s largest motoring award in the 1980 Wheels Car Of The Year award with the W 126 S-Class 280 SE/SEL and 380 SEL models.

On the 15th October 1981, the federal government announced a $67 million purchase of 1295 locally assembled Mercedes Benz Unimogs (4WD trucks) for the Defence Department which was the largest military purchase of the decade.

Another achievement was the arrival of Mercedes Benz cars with the new anti-lock braking system (ABS) technology, standard for the first time on the 380 SL and optional on the S Class models. At the same time, it also introduced driver airbag technology, which became an option on all Mercedes Benz cars from 1981.

In 1984, von Brockhusen passed the baton of power over to Bernt Schlickum at the first annual National Dealer’s Conference and then retired in Melbourne.

In 1986 the federal government introduced a luxury car tax to be applied to all luxury cars over a certain dollar value. Coupled with Fringe Benefits Tax on company cars at the same time, this made life difficult for new Mercedes Benz models.

The 1990s

For the last decade before the millennium, Mercedes Benz changed its model name makeup so that letters preceded the numbers, this made more sense given the enormous array of models that were in the pipeline. For example, the 320E became the E 320 and the ‘E-Class’ was born.

These included the second-generation E-Class range with its distinctive new lights, the revolutionary A-Class (although with vehicle stability problems at first), and the M-Class, the world’s first relatively nimble SUV.

In 1997, Mercedes Benz Australia changed its name to Daimler-Benz Australia/Pacific (DBAuP) and, on the 4th of December, the official opening of the company's new $8 million Mulgrave headquarters took place.

Mercedes Benz Australia head chairman Schlickum continued to 'look after' the motoring press, including providing a trip to Germany in May 1998 for the worldwide launch of the new W220 S-Class range. Lucky or not, it went on to win the 1999 Wheels COTY Award.

Daimler-Benz Australia/Pacific, with a shock announcement, presented its $A43 billion global merger with the American motoring giant Chrysler corporation, spearheaded by DBAuP’s then-Chairman Jürgen Schrempp. The rumour had been around but the press were sceptical because the companies had such completely different corporate cultures.