Mercedes-Benz celebrates 140 years with a 15,000-guest festival and the world premiere of the AMG GT SUV

Around 15,000 guests celebrated the return of three new Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans, named Bertha, Carl and Gottlieb, at "The 140 Festival" at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Bad Cannstatt. The cars came home to where their intercontinental journey began, after more than 65,000 kilometres through 55 countries on six continents in almost nine months, averaging roughly 450 kilometres a day. Bertha and Gottlieb at times ran in parallel across 55 countries on six continents before reuniting to continue together, and the trip involved 67 border crossings and 28 clock changes, while the sedans' climate systems covered 13 climate zones. Fans, partners, employees and their families, and media guests joined the celebration, which marked the highlight of the brand's "140 Years of Innovation" anniversary year. A convoy of 140 historic and current vehicles accompanied the three sedans on their final kilometres, and the evening closed with a live concert by Stuttgart band Die Fantastischen Vier.

A highlight of the festival was the world premiere of the new Mercedes-AMG GT SUV, which Mercedes-AMG calls the first full-size SUV developed in-house in the history of Affalterbach. It is the second new model based on the high-performance AMG.EA architecture and, according to the brand, combines the composure of an SUV with the driving experience of a sports car, pairing performance, comfort and everyday usability to set new impulses in its segment. Mercedes-AMG also used the celebration to look ahead to its 60th anniversary in 2027.

Beyond Mercedes-Benz's regular testing of new vehicles in heat, cold and other simulation chambers, the world tour delivered findings that cannot be gained in a laboratory, the company said. On India's Umling La mountain pass the sedans mastered driving at around 5,800 metres altitude and proved the performance and reliability of the drivetrain, and they kept moving safely through a monsoon and partly flooded roads in India. In Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia the chassis and comfort features proved themselves on unpaved and uneven roads, while programmes such as ENERGIZING COMFORT kept travel relaxed even after hours of driving, and the S-Class showed its agility in numerous evasive manoeuvres. Temperatures ranged from 8 °C to over 35 °C, from desert to tropical climate, with climate control and the filter system keeping the interior comfortable and protected from dust and emissions.