From the German " UNI versal- MO tor- G erät", or Unimog for friends, it is today a sub-brand of the Mercedes-Benz universe formed by an all-terrain truck, in multiple versions, suitable for any service.
And when we say for all service, it is for all service: we find them either as vehicles at the service of security forces (fire, rescue, police), maintenance teams (rail, electricity, etc.), or then as one of the ultimate off road vehicles.
Since its appearance in 1948, it has quickly been realized that it has much greater potential than the agricultural tasks for which it was originally conceived.
In the summer of 1950, after having enjoyed great success when it was exhibited at an agricultural fair of the Deutschen Landwirtschaftsgesellschaft (DLG, or German Agricultural Society) in Frankfurt, the Boehringer Bros who designed and produced the vehicle, realized that an enormous investment would be needed to face it. the high demand that Unimog initially met.
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The connection to Daimler (a group of which Mercedes-Benz is part) already existed at the time, and it was the company that supplied the engine to the Unimog 70200 (the first of all). It was the same diesel engine that powered the Mercedes-Benz 170 D, the first to power a light car in the aftermath of World War II. The car guaranteed 38 hp, but the Unimog was limited to only 25 hp.
However, in this post-war period, when there was rapid economic growth, the supply of OM 636 to Unimog was not fully guaranteed by Daimler. The German construction company sought to satisfy its own needs, which ran into the limits of its productive capacity. So if the OM 636 were to be placed in a vehicle, the priority was, unsurprisingly, to place them in their own vehicles.
Solution? Buy Unimog…
…and make it yet another member of the Daimler and Mercedes-Benz family — the vehicle's potential was undeniable. Negotiations began as early as the summer of 1950, with two representatives from Daimler and six shareholders from Boehringer Unimog, the development company. Among them was Unimog's father Albert Friedrich.
The negotiations ended, with success, on October 27, 1950, 70 years ago, with Daimler acquiring with Unimog, also all the rights and obligations that came with it. And the rest is, as they say, history!
With Unimog integrated into Daimler's substantial infrastructure, conditions were guaranteed for its continuous technological development and a global sales network was established. Since then, more than 380 thousand of the specialized Unimog products have been sold.