The car business is a series of high-stakes hedges and bets. The used car business is too, but where business precision is even more complex and important is a company’s classic car division.
While many companies invest in the long game- museums that entertain budding and seasoned enthusiasts who will hopefully purchase a model (new or used), others are treating the classic car business like an earnest, profit-yielding operation.
Mercedes-Benz is one such company, with an arm dedicated to classics that operates in partnership with the mothership, Mercedes-Benz Heritage.
“A lot of people would tell you that it's very difficult to make money with anything which is heritage restoration, but that's a mislead approach. At the end of the day, the heritage business [is a used car business with a] closer focus. Having a workshop, buying cars, building them up, selling them and dealing with parts… it's simply the pinnacle, the top segment of the used car business,” Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, told Newsweek.
Annually, Mercedes-Benz pays the Heritage company to be custodians of its heritage fleet. That large sum serves as a significant part of the basis for Heritage’s operating budget, along with revenue from other sources including the Mercedes-Benz Museum and Heritage’s parts business. That inflow of cash has allowed the company to improve capabilities, facilities and offerings.
“It's a mixed calculation, but all in all, it is profitable,” Breitschwerdt explained.
The brand’s hallowed halls, its base of operations in Fellbach, Germany, just northeast of Stuttgart proper have recently undergone a massive upgrade, renovating and expanding its 18,000-square feet of storage and workshop space over the last few years.
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That doubling in space is allowing the Heritage company to service more customer cars and keep the Mercedes-Benz fleet of over 1,100 cars in top shape. Authentic restorations are underway for customers and the brand, with a mix of new and traditional techniques used, depending on what the task at hand is.
The expansion wasn’t just planned for the vehicles of yesterday. It’s also been built for the future needs of the vehicles of tomorrow as they become part of the company’s heritage.
The facility will be able to service and restore the Mercedes-Benz S-Class of today in a fashion similar to the S-Classes of the past. And, future classic battery-electric vehicle service has already been factored into makeup of the company’s facilities.
The business is growing, and so too is awareness of Heritage’s efforts, thanks in large part to expanded presence at key events globally including the Mille Miglia regularity challenge, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Mercedes-Benz Studio opening in Beijing, and the expansion of the Mercedes-Benz Classic Partner Network to Gargash Enterprises in the UAE.
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The brand has also taken chances, putting certain models from its collection up for auction as part of strategic corporate adjustments. The results have been positive, including $143 million for the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé in 2022 (by RM Sotheby’s), $51.15 million for the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen (RM Sotheby’s, 2025), and $8.25 million paid for a 1908 17.3-liter “Brooklands” Semmering Rennwagen (2025, RM Sotheby’s).
“What makes these Mercedes-Benz cars so collectible goes well beyond the prices they achieve. Take the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé. Put the extraordinary sum aside and look at what it actually is. One of only two ever built, an incredible engineering achievement, and a car that remained with Mercedes-Benz for nearly 70 years,” Ethan Gibson, head of communications at RM Sotheby’s told Newsweek.
He continued: “We throw around ‘once in a lifetime’ quite often in this industry, but here it genuinely applies. These weren’t cars built for the masses, and in many cases, they were never expected to become available for private ownership. Add to that 140 years of motoring history and one of the most iconic automotive brands in the world.
“We’ve been fortunate to work closely with Mercedes-Benz Heritage on these extraordinary offerings. Imagine a Leonardo da Vinci emerging from a museum collection after generations, suddenly becoming available to own. That’s the level of significance we’re talking about. These aren’t simply expensive cars. They’re irreplaceable pieces of history.”
That desirability is what keeps Mercedes-Benz Museum visitors coming back and brand enthusiasts from buying new and used Mercs. It all feeds into an ecosystem with profits as the Venn diagram overlap.
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Nowhere has that better on display this year than during the Mercedes-Benz 140 Places Tour, a 65,000-mile global expedition that has taken vehicles from the new S-Class to a sympathetic replica of the 1896 Patent Motorwagen to cities of importance to the brand’s history. The tour wraps up this weekend on the company’s home turf in Stuttgart, at the museum.