German Car Zone

eMercedesBenz Feature: The History Of Mercedes-Benz Taxis
Posted October 10, 2008 At 11:30 AM CST by C. Danielson



Gottlieb Daimler fulfilled the dream of his life. He installed his epoch-making invention – the lightweight, high-speed petrol engine and universal source of power for all types of means of transport on land, on water and in the air – into a carriage in 1886. However, hardly anybody took notice of these modest beginnings of general, individual mobility. Much the same happened the same year to Karl Benz in Mannheim with his patent motor car. But Daimler wouldn't have been the visionary and, from today's point of view, the clever businessman he was if he hadn't succeeded in utilizing the opportunities inherent in his invention. The engine recorded its first economic success as a drive unit for boats. On this basis, the first manufacturing facilities worth mentioning developed in Cannstatt near Stuttgart. In November 1890, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) was founded, a company that increasingly dedicated itself to automotive development.

First cab operation with a motorized Daimler carriage

Ten years after the invention of the automobile, the original single-cylinder 1.1 hp engine had already developed into a lively two-cylinder unit, available in several versions with up to eight hp, with quite an advanced four-speed belt transmission including a reverse gear and with a hair-raising top speed of 24 km/h. In this situation, Daimler decided to place his rather successful motorized carriage production on a broader basis and launched his belt-driven car, model "N", as a motorized cab.

On 26 June 1896, Friedrich August Greiner, a haulier and horse-drawn cab operator in Stuttgart, placed an order – number 1329 – with DMG for a landaulet version of the motorized Victoria carriage with taximeter – a car he received in May 1897.

So the world's first motorized cab hit the road and was put into operation with an official police permit in June. At 5530 marks, the vehicle cost a small fortune. The price included the landaulet "half-top", two splashguards, reverse gear and solid rubber tires.

Greiner had to rent the taximeter elsewhere, but that was customary at the time. In cold weather, the rear of the car could be heated – an exclusive and world-first feature in a passenger car. In fine weather, the fixed landaulet body components – the roof, the doors and the windscreen – could be removed, converting the "residual" body with its four seats into a Victoria again.

With this the first motorized cab, Greiner managed some 70 kilometres per day – clearly more than a horse-drawn cab, and suggesting lively demand and good profits. Customers felt that riding a cab without horses was smart, exciting and at times a little dangerous because of the thrilling speed. Until 1899, Greiner bought a total of seven cars for his "Daimler motorized cab business".

Breathtaking ascent of motorized cabs

The success of the first motorized cab business aroused Daimler's competitors. The owner of horse-drawn cabs in Stuttgart, a Mr. Dietz, ordered two Benz models from Benz & Cie. in Mannheim; the cars were approved for operation by no lesser person than Stuttgart's Chief of Police after they had successfully passed the difficult test of climbing the steep ascent from the bottom of the Stuttgart valley up the "Weinsteige" street to Degerloch, with six people on board but without a hitch.

A diversified range of services developed quickly. Motorized cabs with up to six seats were hired by clubs for excursions, both out into the countryside and to other towns. Doctors and travelers used motorized cabs, their intriguing attraction lying in competent drivers, clad in elegant livery and available by day and by night, in every weather. In this way, those who couldn't afford their own carriage or automobile but wished to express their progressiveness could be "somebody".

In the following years, from 1899, Daimler taxi operations rapidly developed on the Jungfernstieg and in Friedrichstraße, the major boulevards in Hamburg and Berlin, respectively. Paris, London, Vienna and other cities followed. The journal "Der Motorwagen" ('The Motor Vehicle') of 1899 reported:

"A second motorized cab with taximeter will start operating in Berlin shortly. The vehicle has already arrived in Berlin and is now extensively tested in the city, first and foremost to familiarize the driver with the streets and the traffic in the capital. In terms of its design and dimensions, this new motorized cab is identical with the first cab, complying with the police headquarters' specifications, which are based on the dimensions of public horse-drawn cabs. The new car has a petrol engine with six hp; it was also built by Daimler in Cannstatt and bought by haulier Thien."

Equally remarkable is an excerpt from a letter written by design engineer Theodor Seyfried from Nürnberger Motorenbau (Nuremberg Engine Production Company) to his boss, Lucian Vogel, on 6 August 1899:

"[…] From Magdeburg, I drove to Berlin to visit Chief Building Officer Klose. In Berlin, a motorized cab business is in the process of being established, using motorized vehicles of Daimler, Benz and de Dion-Bouton. These vehicles are to be driven by elegant ladies for promotion purposes (following the French model), and by coincidence, I had the opportunity to attend the scrutineering of the cars. Without doubt, the best is the Daimler vehicle in which the Chief Building Officer kindly had me chauffeured through the city, at all possible speeds – and it went very well indeed. According to the driver [Greiner], a highly experienced man who lived in Cannstatt for many years and set up a motorized cab business in Stuttgart, this engine is, however, not yet reliable, though more reliable than the engines of the others (Benz, de Dion) […]" This last point was to change rapidly, however.

Driving schools for cab drivers

It was only natural that fierce battles soon developed at the cab ranks and in the streets between the advocates of the "oats motor", as the horse was called, and those of the modern petrol engine. Passengers were killed or injured in accidents caused by shying horses and inexperienced or excessively daring motorized cab drivers. Demands for discipline and order grew ever louder, prompting cab operators to train their drivers in their own driving schools.

Coachmen were usually inexperienced in engineering matters, understanding very little of the functioning and details of a motor vehicle; so they saw themselves faced with a host of difficulties in operating and steering horseless carriages when they retrained as motorized cab drivers. Driving motor vehicles in those days required a great deal of feeling, with roads and automotive designs still being far from being matched to each other. In wet weather, the majority of vehicles with solid rubber tires became virtually unpredictable, and the brakes were not without treacherous reactions, either. The trade journal "Der Motorwagen" of 1899 therefore printed advertisements like the following ever more often:


Reports on new motorized cab businesses were equally the order of the day:

"We have been informed that Messrs. Cudell & Co., Motoren- und Motorfahrzeugfabrik [Engine and Motor Vehicle Factory] in Aachen and their Berlin representatives, Messrs. Schaller & Co., Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorferstrasse 78 – 83, have set up a motorized cab business and driving school. This offers an opportunity to everyone to familiarize himself with the design and characteristics of motor vehicles and to abandon himself to the enjoyment of a pleasure trip at low cost, thereby meeting a long-cherished need.

Messrs. Cudell & Co. intend to set up the same facilities in other large cities; this is likely to take the cause of auto-mobility in Germany another big step forwards."

Early mixtures of petrol and electricity

Around 1900, it was not easy for motorized cab operators-to-be to order the right sort of vehicle. They had the choice of petrol engine, electric motor and even steam propulsion. Then there was the choice of brand. Alongside established manufacturers like Daimler and Benz, a large number of new companies had emerged, which either cleverly copied the successful models or launched their own immature designs with all the shortcomings arising from inexperience.

The first electro-mobiles used as taxi cabs were nothing else but converted carriages with the cab dimensions specified by the authorities. In most versions, a bulky battery box with a lead battery inside was attached underneath the passenger compartment; the electric motor's power was directly transmitted to the rear wheels.

Initially, these vehicles had major advantages for cab operators. They were not as smelly and loud as petrol-engined vehicles – a pleasant aspect for passengers by all means. Their operational reliability was clearly higher than that of the early petrol-engined vehicles, and repairs were carried out easily. Operating cabs with electric motors did not require any special technical knowledge on the part of the drivers, so their wages were lower than those of the competing petrol-engined vehicles' chauffeurs.

The disadvantage of a relatively small range of some 90 kilometres and the rather moderate top speed of 20 km/h did not have any incisive effects in urban taxi operation – top speed was limited to 15 km/h in many areas anyway. Batteries were mostly recharged on the cab operators' premises, outside the vehicles, so the latter were back on the road quickly with a second set of batteries.

The first electric cab started operating in Berlin in 1899, the first one in Vienna in 1900. The example set by these cities was followed by Cologne, Dresden and Frankfurt/Main. Relatively large electric cab operations with up to 80 vehicles rapidly established themselves in Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Leipzig. Customers were able to distinguish them easily from petrol-engined cabs by their livery: in Berlin, for instance, electric cabs were painted ivory, petrol-engined cabs brown.

At the 1907 Berlin Motor Show, a good dozen companies displayed a large number of special electric taxi cabs and by 1910, battery development had progressed to a level that permitted a range of 130 kilometres and a top speed of around 30 km/h.

Mercedes "Mixte" cars

Several motor manufacturers had stakes in, or operated, taxi cab companies. One of these manufacturers was the Austrian Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft which offered not only battery-driven cabs but also so-called Mercedes "Mixte" cars. These were hybrid cars with 5 hp wheel hub motors in the front wheels, deriving their electricity from a generator that was driven by a petrol engine. Hybrid cars had originally been engineered by Ferdinand Porsche. However, these cars were clumsy: the wheel hub motors alone weighed around 350 kilograms and the complete car weighed in at almost 1,800 kilograms. This explains why the vehicle reached only moderate speeds, rapidly wore down the pneumatic tires which had meanwhile become fashionable and generally incurred high operating costs. At a price of 13,000 marks, they cost 4,000 marks more than a comparable petrol-engined cab.

During the first two decades of the last century, the engineering of both all-electric and hybrid cars was simply not sufficiently matured to compete successfully with petrol-engined cars which themselves became ever more reliable, causing operating costs to decline steadily.

Benz and Daimler cabs

From early on, Benz & Cie. in Mannheim set great store by close contacts with taxi cab and rental car operators who demanded economically efficient and robust vehicles – and that was clearly a Benz domain. The company even offered the possibility of payment by installments. It is therefore not surprising that the robust and hardy 10/18 hp car with a special "Berlin cab" body enjoyed great popularity and was operated in large numbers from 1909, especially in Berlin of course. In these cars with landaulet bodywork, the drivers still had an open-air workplace but at least they now had a roof above their heads.

At the same time, Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim launched a new model, the 10/20 hp Mercedes which rapidly found friends in the taxi trade with its (relatively modest) performance matched to taxi cab operating requirements and its solid design.

The trade journal "Der Motorwagen" wrote:

"As Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim recently engages to a growing extent in the production of Mercedes vehicles with small engines, the number of Mercedes taxi cabs has significantly increased, and they enjoy great popularity because of their outstanding ease of operation and painstaking workmanship."

Small wonder: the 10/20 hp Mercedes had an appealing design and reasonably protected the driver from inclement weather by means of a fixed roof and a windscreen – though not yet from the cold.

The range of "optional equipment" reads like a replacement parts list, including spare wheels, tools, headlights, taillights, number plate illumination, horn, floor covering, speedometer, taximeter, windscreen wipers and much more. Somewhat odd accessories were equally available, though not ex factory: crank-operated horns, spark plugs with built-in compression whistles, automatic cigarette lighters which produced fags in ready-to-smoke condition and an appliance for heating sausages in the coolant.

By the time World War I broke out, the taxi trade was no longer in its infancy: breakdowns occurred less and less frequently, and the first enclosed – coupé – bodies had appeared on the market, keeping at least the passengers dry and in a few cases even warm. During the war, many taxi cabs were requisitioned; electric cabs were spared but had to "donate" their tires. At the end of those four devastating years, the world had changed completely and, like almost everything else, the taxi trade was in ruins. Automotive development in countries not affected by the war had progressed at a brisk speed while development in Germany had stagnated.

In demand: economical everyday cars

After the war, mass strikes, the Spartacus League's rebellion, the occupation of the Ruhr area and the separatist movement caused new problems for the German taxi cab business. Motor manufacturers had a hard time surviving as they had lost their export markets, and their outdated designs stood little chance against the more modern, mostly foreign brands. New brands like Ford, Chevrolet, Citroën and NSU – with a Fiat license – established themselves in the German market.

Then there were the domestic brands like Adler, Brennabor and NAG, offering small and lightweight cars at moderate prices, thanks to modern production methods. Ongoing currency devaluation and, finally, the world economic crisis from October 1929 made life extremely difficult for both taxi operators and their customers. It was not before the early 1930s that supply and demand began to recover slowly.

The first Mercedes-Benz taxi: the 8/38 hp

Daimler-Benz AG, resulting from the merger of DMG and Benz & Cie., two companies steeped in tradition, in June 1926, presented the new 8/38 hp model in the year of the merger and launched it into the market in early 1927.

Thanks to the quality of the new brand and, above all, to the value for money this Porsche design represented, the 8/38 hp soon made a career as a taxi cab. The small two-liter car was constantly further developed and formed the backbone of Daimler-Benz's taxi business until 1933. Its landaulet bodywork met the requirements of cab drivers and customers in outstanding form.

This car seated four passengers in all comfort; luggage was carried, largely protected against inclement weather, in the interior compartment, to the right of the driver. The front doors still had no window panes but the driver had at least a fixed roof, a windscreen and a windscreen wiper. The driver's compartment was separated from the passenger compartment by a fixed partition with a communication window in it: passengers were by themselves.

The 8/38 hp was thoroughly redesigned by Chief Engineer Hans Nibel in 1928 to become the "Stuttgart 200" – a car exclusively built in Stuttgart (hence its name) and powered by a two-liter engine. It was given a new cylinder head, a short-circuit thermostat, an oil filter and a high-speed fourth gear with overdrive ratio, accounting for a major reduction in fuel consumption. The car continued to be available complete with a landaulet taxi cab bodywork from Sindelfingen and taxi equipment.

The "Stuttgart 260" version, however, with 50 hp 2.6 liter engine, was one size too large – i.e. too expensive – for cab operators and therefore rarely seen at cab ranks. The same applied to the 70 hp "Mannheim" produced in the former Benz plant in Mannheim, and to the "Nürburg" model which was powered by a 4.6 liter eight-cylinder engine with 80 hp. The "Nürburg" also came off the assembly lines in Mannheim but passed its acid test as a sports car on the Nürburgring.

With the 260 Diesel to new profit heights

In the Olympic year 1936, a carefully staged sensation was launched at the Berlin Motor Show: the Mercedes-Benz 260 D. It was the world's first diesel-engined production car. It made its first public appearances in the taxi and rental car trade, clad in the somewhat plain but practical six-seater landaulet bodywork of 200/230 versions with petrol engines. In this market segment, the 260 D soon made life extremely difficult for the well-established competitors of brands long gone by – Adler and Brennabor for instance, not to mention the small taxi producers who tried their luck with more or less successful copies of all sorts of brands.

The robust and economical Mercedes-Benz diesel became – and has remained to this day – the taxi drivers' favorite. Small wonder: in 1935 a liter of diesel fuel cost 17 pfennigs, less than half the price of petrol.

The diesel engine's long road to success

The diesel engine's road to success in passenger cars and into the 260 D was a long one – and paved with disappointments. In 1926,

Daimler-Benz, still a young company at the time, began designing a six-cylinder diesel engine for trucks; this was to have a higher power output and a therefore a higher engine speed: 1,300 rpm in the six-cylinder vs. 1,000 rpm in the four-cylinder.

The first tests were rather discouraging: the pistons failed under the extreme stresses at higher engine speeds, and fuel supply also caused concern. It was not before Mahle provided newly developed pistons and Bosch a high-precision diesel injection pump that the much-longed-for breakthrough was achieved. In the course of the years, engine speed was raised in several development steps to 2,000 rpm in the early 1930s, with the resulting boosting effect on output.

Development of the diesel engine for passenger cars began in 1933. While already being state of the art in trucks at that time, its output and engine speed had to come as close as possible to those of a petrol engine in the opinion of its design engineers to become an interesting proposition for cars. A utopian aim, as the Mercedes engineers had to realize after the first test runs. Because of the diesel's significantly higher compression ratio compared to its petrol counterpart, the engine had to be more robust and therefore heavier. The higher weight, in turn, produced greater inertia forces, resulting in anything but smooth engine characteristics, with extremely adverse effects on the entire car's running. The first passenger car diesel test engine – a 3.8 liter six-cylinder – developed an impressive output of 82 hp at 2,800 rpm. Not bad for a diesel – the drawback, however, was that the test car's chassis did not withstand the engine's vibrations. This was not the way to success.

The solution: four cylinders

In November 1934, the decisive idea was conceived, namely to reduce the six-cylinder to a four-cylinder with a displacement of 2.6 litres. The Mercedes-Benz pre-chamber combustion system – splitting combustion into two stages and thereby making it "soft" – proved to be particularly favorable for the diesel-engined car; mixture formation was performed by a four-plunger injection pump from Bosch. The four-cylinder already had overhead valves – a modern feature – and developed 45 hp at 3,200 rpm.

Installed in the chassis of the petrol-engined 200, the diesel engine behaved itself from then on. Its average fuel consumption was around 9.5 litres per 100 kilometres – clearly less than the 13 litres of its petrol-powered counterpart. The car reached a top speed of 90 km/h.

Taxi drivers become friends of the diesel

It is therefore not surprising that this car became the taxi drivers' favorite right from the start – and has remained their favorite to this day. The car's low operating costs, the engine's above-average service life and the robust bodies – especially the spacious landaulet bodywork in a special taxi cab version with up to seven seats – more than compensated for the higher purchase prices.

Other gratifying features: the car engines emitted neither smoke nor diesel smell, and they were also relatively quiet. A close community of diesel car owners developed – and they didn't mind that the 260 D was not as smooth-running and quiet as a petrol-engined car. All that counted for them was economy and longevity. The 260 D remained a familiar sight at taxi ranks well into the 1950s.

Once the diesel had proved itself in tough taxi operation, it soon began to attract private customers. To meet their wishes, the engine was revised in 1937, improving its smooth-running characteristics and refinement. Also for the benefit of private customers, the range of bodywork versions was expanded. The diesel engine even made friends in two-door and four-door cabriolets and in an open-top touring car.

Quite a few diesel taxis survived World War II because they hadn't been requisitioned by the armed forces. Their drivers, however, were at the front, so their wives had to take over, evacuating people, carrying supplies and performing transport assignments according to strict rules: private journeys were prohibited.

A good illustration of this is Else Holl from Nürtingen near Stuttgart. Between 1938 and 1951, she drove more than 1.3 million kilometres in her 260 D; during the war, she transported cattle to the Stuttgart slaughterhouse in a heavy-duty trailer. During all those years, the rear axle had to be replaced after 600,000 kilometres, and the engine had to be overhauled three times.

Some 2,000 units of the world's first diesel-engined car were built until 1940 – not a big volume but big enough to make the diesel-engined car socially acceptable and to prepare the ground for the post-war diesel market. Thanks to the farsightedness of its creators and ongoing development, the diesel car conquered a firm place in the Mercedes-Benz model range.

The Mercedes-Benz brand conquers the taxi market

At the 1936 Berlin Motor Show, the Mercedes-Benz 260 D was not the only sensational new model: another one was the 170 V, the "V" indicating a front-mounted engine and distinguishing this model from the 170 H presented at the same time but with the same four-cylinder in-line engine installed in the rear of the car.

Right from the start, Daimler-Benz offered the 170 V in numerous bodywork versions, including taxi cab versions of the saloon and convertible. At the time, the 170 V was allocated to the category of "small cabs" because it was not permitted to carry more than four people. "Large cabs", by contrast, had spacious Pullman bodies and seating capacity for up to seven people.

In 1936/37, Daimler-Benz had another go at the taxi business and collated a package that met taxi and rental car operators half way. A circular letter written to the Mercedes-Benz sales outlets in Germany on 16 February 1937 expressed this very clearly indeed, and this approach is still the same today:

" [...] With this circular letter, [...] we announce additional guidelines for the introduction of our taxi cabs by pointing out to you that complete coverage of this special line in our passenger car business should be given particular attention.

The significance of the taxi cab business lies [...] in its outstanding promotional effect which can be achieved for our products when the MERCEDES-BENZ taxi cabs dominate the streets in all important places everywhere in Germany. [...]

Those in power endeavor to reorganize the taxi trade thoroughly with public funds. For us, it was therefore a question of creating a taxi that ensures maximum economy at a low purchase price, combined with maximum practicality and comfort – the latter being required to provide the public with a permanent incentive to use this small taxi cab.

By creating the 170 V taxi, we have reached this aim in outstanding style. We supply this tried-and-tested car as a four-to-five-seater, four-door saloon and as a four-to-five-seater cabriolet with four doors and taxi cab appointments. [...]

170 V cars with taxi cab appointments feature:

• a partition with three-part sliding window,
  
  
• a coat-hanger rail with retaining ropes on the left and right-hand sides on the back of the partition,
  
  
• ashtrays in the left and right-hand side rear doors,
  
  
• a roof-mounted light in the rear (saloon only) or a light attached to the soft-top frame in the rear (cabriolet only),
  
  
• a sun visor above the windscreen,
  
  
• Eura lamps on the left and right-hand sides in front of the windscreen, lighting up in white and blue,
  
  
• in the dashboard a combination of ashtray and reading light to illuminate the taximeter which the cab operator has to retrofit on the right-hand side of the dashboard in compliance with a special drawing, and
  
  
• three "unoccupied" signs
  
  
• For the transportation of luggage, we have found a particularly advantageous solution – a luggage rack that is mounted above the spare wheel at the back of the car, complete with lugs and straps. [...]

In response to the above-mentioned special circumstances for the introduction of our 170 V taxi cab, we have specified sales prices which are as low as possible:

• 170 V saloon with four doors and taxi cab appointments: RM 3,740
  
  
• 170 V cabriolet with four doors and taxi cab appointments:
  RM 3,850
  
  
• The prices quoted apply to the scope of equipment listed above, including a set of five tires, ex Untertürkheim plant.
  
  
• Delivery time: approx. three weeks.

Several cars are available for trial driving. We are therefore able to promote the successful conclusion of transactions by seconding a special factory salesman who demonstrates the car.

You are already familiar with our second taxi cab model, the 230, which we supply as a:

• seven-seater four-door Pullman saloon taxi with six windows and as a
  
  
• seven-seater four-door landaulet taxi with six windows
  
  
• The Pullman saloon and landaulet versions of the 230 with taxi cab appointments and a set of six tires are priced at RM 6,075 each.
  
  
• Delivery time: approx. four weeks.

We already informed you in detail about the 260 Diesel with taxi cab appointments in our circular letter of the second of this month.

• The price of the Pullman saloon taxi is RM 6,750,
  
  
• that of the landaulet taxi is RM 6,950.
  
  
• Cars are supplied with sets of six tires. Delivery time: approx. four to six weeks.

Concerning the paintwork and interior appointments, the same applies as for the 230, that is to say, the bodies correspond, with the exception of the paintwork, in their interior appointments to our sample card no. 37a.

We have already outlined the special economy of our 260 Diesel taxi in detail and equally explained the special conditions for procuring the operating fuel at reduced customs duties. [...]"

In short, with specially tailored taxi appointments, favorable terms and conditions and short delivery times, Daimler-Benz was well prepared for the operators' run on Mercedes taxis the company was hoping for – and its hopes were not to be disappointed. The 260 D and 170 V quickly became the trade's preferred cars and the public's favorites. And that was not all.

Outside Germany, it got about that an ever larger number of Mercedes cars lined up at German taxi ranks and that people were quite taken with the cars' comfort, convenience and appointments. Those who took the trouble to ask the drivers about their experiences were given answers like "cheap in operation, robust, few repairs, friendly workshop staff, quality down to the smallest detail."

The operators' and customers' positive experiences made an impact – growing numbers of Mercedes-Benz taxis were also to be found at the taxi ranks outside Germany. The brand with the three-pointed star firmly established itself in this segment as well – and permanently, as history has shown.

The 170 V: a robust car for everyone

The 170 V became the most frequently built Mercedes-Benz passenger car and the star of pre-war production. A special attraction for customers was its four-cylinder engine with flexible two-point mounting, smooth running characteristics almost on a par with those of a six-cylinder and, with a fuel consumption of less than 10 litres per 100 kilometres, outstanding fuel economy. Other ingredients were a novel X-shaped tubular frame, a wood-and-steel bodywork and swing axles. Initially, only third and fourth gear were synchronized; from 1940, the transmission was fully synchronized.

By 1942, more than 90,000 of these fashionably plain, reliable and technically robust everyday cars for everyone had come off the assembly lines in numerous versions, from saloons and cabriolets via ambulances through to delivery vans with box-bodies.

Phoenix from the ashes

Production of delivery vans – and early pickup versions – based on the 170 V was resumed at the end of 1946. The 170 V saloon reappeared again in mid-1947 and in 1949, the ardently awaited 170 D became available – with a new diesel engine whose development had begun during the war. This model series represented the "Phoenix rising from the ashes", the basis for a new beginning. Progress was to be found in detail features and a boot that was, from 1950, accessible from outside. A luggage rack was additionally available for those who needed extra capacity.

The 170 D was the only new German car with a diesel engine after the war. Its 1.7 liter four-cylinder in-line engine with 38 hp at 3,600 rpm was not exactly dynamic, but it was as economical as the 260 D – consuming only 7.5 litres per 100 kilometres – and imperturbably robust. Its price was equally "sound": it cost DM 9,200 when production started in May 1949 and just DM 8,650 from January 1950. The sales price of the 170 V on 21 June 1948, the day of the currency reform in Germany, amounted to DM 8,180.

Production of the 170 D continued until 1953 in several evolutionary stages; its output was raised by 2 hp and a heating was added that also blew warm air in the direction of the windscreen.

From 1951, the 170 D was gradually replaced on the market and in the taxi drivers' favor by its big brother, the 170 DS. The latter was more spacious, decidedly comfortable and equipped with modern features like a steering-column-mounted gearshift lever and a lever-type parking brake. It cost DM 9,350 and was powered by the tried-and-tested 40 hp diesel engine – longevity guaranteed.

The success of the diesel engine in Mercedes-Benz cars

The diesel-engined Mercedes-Benz car continued on its successful course. Over the years it arrived in other car segments. Today, diesel engines are available for every Mercedes-Benz model, on different power levels.

The special demands of taxi operators are always met, i. e. a derated version of the modern 2.2 liter four-cylinder (92 kW/125 hp) with CDI technology (Common Rail Direct Injection) is available to ensure that the car's dynamism is not excessively exploited by the driver. And fuel consumption is reduced even further.

For decades, diesel-engined cars were the realm of Mercedes-Benz. In 1965, just 30 years after the 260 D's debut, the 500,000th diesel-engined passenger car came off the assembly line. In the early decades, the engines were not exactly what automotive gourmets felt was fitting for them, but that was not the point. Robustness, economy and proverbial longevity were – and remain – the outstanding features of the diesel engine. Its recently acquired lively performance, boosted by the high-pressure common rail direct injection, today even convinces died-in-the-wool diesel opponents.

The beneficiaries – and promoters – of this development, bringing with it ever more improved versions of the specific equipment, were the taxi operators all over the world. Mercedes-Benz is the brand whose taxi models from the entire passenger car product range still account for the lion's share of all taxis, depending on the country and its national registration regulations. This will not change in the future, either, because the cars' quality, robustness and longevity and the company's special round-the-clock services for taxi and rental car operators have been retained at the traditionally high level – an asset that has been cultivated since 1936 and the first diesel-engined taxi cabs.

The future with alternative fuels and propulsion systems

And what will be the future of the taxi trade? Fuel prices are crucial for the trade and it is therefore only logical that it is on the look-out for alternative, low-cost fuels. Whether rapeseed oil, natural gas, methanol or even hydrogen in combination with the conventional combustion engine are viable solutions for the future continues to be controversially discussed, quite apart from the current problem of availability. Daimler keeps a close eye on these developments – and always has the demands of special customers like taxi operators in view.

Source: eMercedesBenz.com -- The History of Mercedes-Benz Taxis

Photos: (Click to Enlarge)



























































































Copyright © 2008, Daimler AG

I guess MB are rehashing all of this drumming up for the launch of the new E-class.

Ohh yes..thats most certainly the case..
Damn the taxi drivers of the world..are in for a real treat with the new E

Nothing like a little heritage and history to get hearts beating about a new Mercedes

^Oh yeah..bring the new stuff