| Just in time to absorb the effects of the world economic crisis a comparatively small and economic vehicle of high quality and low in price was created under Hans Nibel. The Mercedes-Benz type_170 was presented on the Paris Salon in autumn 1931. As the latest technical development the vehicle was equipped with swinging axles in the front and the rear. The modern technology and the pleasing styling of the vehicle caught on with the customers in the same degree as the low price despite a six-cylinder-engine. . As four-door limousine the "kleine Mercedes" ("small Mercedes") sold for 4,400 marks, nearly 1,600 marks cheaper than the cheapest version of the type Stuttgart. With that it was the vehicle with the smallest displacement and the lowest price at the lower end of the Mercedes-Benz passenger-car programme. The type 170 contributed considerably to the fact that Daimler-Benz could overcome the economic crisis. In 1932 already 4,481 units were constructed; this number of units alone was higher than the total number of all passenger car models produced in the previous year. |