Mercedes-Benz

At the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz 220 at the April 1951 Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung, the car already looked outdated. In the immediate post-war years Mercedes-Benz only produced four-cylinder-engined passenger cars. The W187 and flagship W186 Mercedes-Benz 300 were the first Mercedes to once again feature six-cylinder engines. In contrast with the rather old fashioned look of the car's body, the new six cylinder 2,195cc engine attracted much attention in the press, being the first new engine presented by Mercedes-Benz in more than ten years. It would form the basis, repeatedly enlarged and upgraded as the years went on, for a long line of six-cylinder engines powering mainstream Mercedes-Benz models including the six-cylinder version of the early S-Class models in the 1970s. The W187 however was short lived, the saloon went out of production in May 1954 when it was succeeded by the modern ponton-styled 220a. The cabriolet and coupé models continued for another 15 months until August 1955.