Engineering excellence and pioneering spirit.

Albert Friedrich is one of the founding fathers of the Unimog. Immediately after the Second World War, the former head of Daimler-Benz aircraft engine production recognised the enormous need for agricultural tractors among small and medium-sized farms in Germany. In addition to off-road capability, the main focus was on easy adaptability for a wide range of tasks.

On the premises of the Erhard & Söhne company in Schwäbisch Gmünd, from 1946 an enthusiastic team led by the engineers Albert Friedrich, Heinrich Rößler and Hans Zabel developed and tested the first prototypes for such a commercial vehicle. It was Hans Zabel who took the somewhat cumbersome project name "Universal Motor Device for Agriculture" and created the catchy abbreviation "Unimog".

At the end of the development phase, a vehicle stood ready with all-wheel drive, differential locks and portal axles that met all requirements for transport capacity and tractive power and was nevertheless capable of 50 km/h. In addition, implements could be fitted on all sides – a clear advantage over the conventional tractor, which only offered such an option at the rear. For the engine, they relied on the OM 636 from Daimler-Benz, which, as a robust diesel engine, also ensured cost-effective operation.

In 1948 the Unimog was then presented to a specialist audience for the first time at the DLG fair in Frankfurt. There it met with very positive feedback, not least because of its convincing driving characteristics off-road and on the road, its ease of operation and its great versatility. In the same year, the first series production took place at the Gebrüder Boehringer plant in Göppingen, which had already supplied cast parts for the prototypes.

The trademark of the first series 70200, of which about 600 vehicles were produced, is the ox head logo. Even today there are around 120 Boehringer Unimog from that period – many of them still operational.

Due to the rising demand for Unimog, increasingly outside Germany, Boehringer's production capacity soon proved insufficient. A take-over agreement was signed with Daimler-Benz and in 1951 production finally began at the truck plant in Gaggenau. With only minor modifications to the vehicle, which continued to be marketed as the "Unimog 25 PS", the new 2010 model series made it possible, thanks to more rational production processes, to roll significantly more Unimog off the production line. Thus, in the first seven months of 1951, just over 1,000 Unimog were already produced in Gaggenau.

Improved power take-offs enabled new applications in forestry, as well as in field work. Tasks that previously required many hands could suddenly be carried out by a single operator. Additional uses of the Unimog as a firefighting support vehicle or in road construction soon followed.

From 1953 Daimler-Benz produced the new 400 series of the Unimog in Gaggenau. While the U 401 retained a wheelbase of 1,720 mm, the U 402 introduced an extended variant with 2,120 mm. Both models were available for the first time with a closed driver's cab. Their distinctive headlights soon earned the series the nickname "frog-eye". And there was another important innovation: from that point on, instead of the ox head the Mercedes‑Benz Star was mounted on the hood.

Because of the enclosed cab and the possibility of fitting pneumatically operated tipping bodies, not only construction firms, the postal service and the railways, but also municipalities increasingly took an interest in the Unimog. The vehicle could be used for a wide variety of tasks not only during the milder seasons, but it was also ideal as a snow-clearing vehicle for winter. The pneumatic system allowed an even larger range of attachments and trailers to be operated.

Word spread about the excellent quality of this all-round vehicle: in 1954 the Unimog received the coveted forestry plaque for its operational capabilities in forestry. And that was only the beginning of a long series of awards and recommendations across a wide range of industries.

Already in its first ten years, the Unimog was able to convince with exactly the arguments that still set it apart today: the combination of high off-road capability with comparatively fast driving on roads, its wide range of applications with countless implement and attachment options, and the high quality and durability of its parts.

Originally conceived for agriculture, the Unimog quickly opened up many other sectors and went on to shape fleets in towns and municipalities as well as in forestry and among contract service providers. Many customers from those early days have remained loyal to the Unimog across generations to this day.