F-Cell World Tour
Mercedes-Benz is Still Innovating after 125 years
As part of the ceremony to mark the 125th birthday of the invention of the automobile on January 29 in Stuttgart, German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Dr. Dieter Zetsche fired the symbolic starting shot for the Mercedes-Benz F-Cell World Drive.
Dr. Merkel and Dr. Zetsche were observing the first milestone for the automobile, which occurred on January 29, 1886 when Karl Benz filed his patent for a vehicle with gas engine operation.
The World Drive, lasting 125 days to mark the 125 years of Mercedes-Benz heritage, will take the three F-Cell cars to four continents and 14 countries, covering over 20,000 miles and circumnavigating the globe. The tour will travel southwest to Lisbon, where the cars will be flown to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Crossing the United States, the tour will travel westward to Los Angeles, then north to Vancouver. From Vancouver, the tour will fly to Australia, traveling from Sydney to Perth. Flying to Shanghai, the tour will cross China and Russia before traveling down through Scandinavia and arrive in Stuttgart in June.
The overall goal of the trip is to prove that the F-Cell is capable of covering long distances with challenging topography and climate, but also stress the need for a new fuel infrastructure for the next era of automotive mobility.
