WOMEN IN THE HISTORY OF THE AUTOMOBILE

Women played a significant role in the success of the automobile. Here is an overview of the most important women in automotive history:

Bertha Benz
Bertha Benz proves the roadworthiness of her husband's invention with her courageous first long-distance journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim. Based on her experiences during the journey, Carl Benz is able to improve the car, for example by adding an extra gear for uphill gradients.

Mercedes Jellinek
One of the world's most important brands owes its name to a woman: the Mercedes-Simplex racing car designed by Wilhelm Maybach is named in 1900 after the daughter of the importer of Daimler automobiles in Nice, Emile Jellinek, whose pet name is Mercedes. It is thus the first Mercedes.

Louise Sarazin
Louise Sarazin helps the automobile achieve a breakthrough in France. She took over the business for Gottlieb Daimler there in 1888 after her husband, a business partner of Daimler, had died the year before. The new technical achievement was very well received in France, while customers in Germany were still hesitant.

Anne d'Uzès
The French Duchess Anne d'Uzès is the first person to take a driving test, in 1898. She is also the first to collect a fine for speeding. Instead of the permitted 12 km/h, she drove a speedy 13 km/h in the Bois de Boulogne near Paris.

Clärenore Stinnes
Clärenore Stinnes demonstrates extraordinary courage. She is the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a car. When she set off from Frankfurt am Main in 1927 with the photographer Carl-Axel Söderström, an accompanying truck and two technicians, the 26-year-old was already Europe's most successful racing driver with 17 race victories. Two years and one month later, she ends her journey of exactly 46,758 kilometres in Berlin.

Women have also always played a major role in car advertising - as an important clientele and with a penchant for beautiful cars.