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In 1885 Gottlieb Daimler build his first motorcycle, fitted an engine to a carriage in 1886, and in 1889 completed the "Steelwheeler", with a 566cc V-twin engine, designed by his assistant, Wilhelm Maybach. He exhibited this car at the 1889 Paris World-Exhibition and sold a production license to Levassor; 1890 saw the foundation of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft at Cannstatt (now part of Stuttgart). Daimler then introduced his 1060cc two-cylinder belt-driven car, succeeded in 1897 by the 5507cc four-cylinder Phönix sports and racing car. This attracted the Consul-General of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at Nice, the wealthy Emil Jellinek, who influenced Maybach to design a lower-built, lighter car, which Jellinek called after his elder daughter, Mercedes. This appeared in 1901- shortly after Daimler's death. Mercedes cars soon showed their supremacy, even over a new car designed by Daimler's son Paul, which was built at the Austrian Daimler factory at Wiener Neustadt. see: Mercedes Benz ©VEA
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