In 2025, many car brands and even more vehicle models will once again be celebrating milestone birthdays, and we have picked out a few to look forward to. Of course, we had to limit ourselves, because the younger the past, the wider the flood of new products.
100 and more years ago - inflationary development of the brand landscape
130 years ago, it was the pioneers who developed automobiles. The brand was often created with the first and often only model.
Hardly any of them have survived, many of the manufacturers such as Léon Bollée, Rochet-Schneider, Knight, Lanchester or De la Vergne are barely remembered.
125 years ago, Wilhelm Maybach drove the Daimler "Mercedes", which influenced future cars in many ways, for the first time.
120 years ago, car brands such as Ariel, Austin, Brasier, Delage, Diatto, Hansa, Rolland-Pilain, REO, Riley, Solidor and Talbot were founded, some of which are still well-known today, but all of which are no longer active.
And ten years later, 110 years ago, Aston Martin, Atalanta and Owen Magnetic were founded.
The foundations for new influential companies were also laid 100 years ago, for example with the emergence of the vehicle manufacturers Chrysler, Hanomag and Moretti. Ford began building cars in Germany in 1925, while in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland it was finally allowed to drive cars on public roads at all.
In the same year, the first Rolls-Royce Phantom was built and the first Hanomag 2/10 PS, better known as the "Kommissbrot", also took to the road.
75 years ago (1950) - The joy of the sporty automobile
In addition to new brands such as Autobleu, Fuldamobil, Marauder, Muntz and Seat, many new sporty vehicles also emerged in 1950.
Examples include the Alfa Romeo 1900, the Aston Martin DB2, the Lancia Aurelia (B10) and the Jowett Jupiter. The first Morgan +4 and Muntz Jet were also built, while at Maserati the 2000 GT replaced the 1500 versions of the A6G.
Of course, there were also less sporty new cars to celebrate in 1950, such as the Henry J and, of course, the VW Bus/Transporter (Type 2), which is still popular today.
70 years ago (1955) - The divine and the compact
Their journey went down in the annals.
Stirling Moss and Denis Jenkinson beat their Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR (W196 S) in record time over the 1600 km of the Mille Miglia in April 1955.
The Fiat 600 had already been presented in Geneva in March, Citroën DS and Peugeot 403 followed with presentations in Paris in the fall. The BMW Isetta was also launched in 1955.
50 years ago (1975) - new sportiness across the board
There was certainly no shortage of innovations in 1975. The AMC Pacer, the Peugeot 604 and the VW Polo (1st generation) were launched on the market.
The Chrysler-Simca 1307/1308 celebrated its premiere in Paris, Mercedes-Benz presented the W123.
For young and sporty people with small families, however, another vehicle category was important that could be celebrated several times 50 years ago: the particularly dynamic compact and mid-range saloons. In 1975, the VW Golf GTI, the Audi 80 GTE, the Opel Kadett GT/E and the completely revamped Ford Escort RS 2000 were all launched on the market. In addition to the similarities - 105 to 110 hp output and low weight - the four also offered diversity, namely bodywork as a notchback saloon, coupé or hatchback saloon, front or rear-wheel drive, longitudinally or transversely mounted four-cylinder engines.
Those who needed a little less space and had a little more money to spend on buying a car might have opted for the new Porsche 924.
And the choice for the top ten thousand also increased 50 years ago, for example with the Rolls-Royce Camargue, the Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9 or the Jaguar XJ-S.
We also want to mention the replacement of the first generation Ascona/Manta, as the Opel Ascona B and Manta B models also appeared in 1975.
Even 40 years ago, in 1985, there was a lot of news to report. We will limit ourselves here to mentioning the BMW M3 (E30), the Lancia Y10 (presented in Gen 1985), the Toyota MR2 and the Alfa Romeo 75.
30 years ago (1995) - new luxury sedans and sporty cars for a lot or a little money
In the same year, the new editions of the BMW Five and Mercedes-Benz E-Class series, which are very important for both manufacturers, were launched on the market.
The E39 from BMW and the W210 from Mercedes fought for the same customers, BMW did so with careful design enhancements, while Mercedes shocked its followers with a four-eyed face.
Times were good in the mid-nineties for those people who wanted to buy a sporty car outside the norm for comparatively little money. In 1995, the Fiat Barchetta, the MG F and the Lotus Elise came onto the market.
The posters in children's rooms, however, were dominated by the Ferrari F50, which could bring Formula 1 technology into the garage at home if there was no shortage of money.
Incidentally, things were also sporty five years later (25 years ago), when the Opel Speedster and the new edition of the BMW M3 (E46 series), among others, made their debut.
20 years ago (2005) - the new youngtimers
The list of cars that will be honored as youngtimers from 2025 is long.
These include the Alfa Romeo Brera, the BMW three-seater (E90 series), the BMW Z4 Coupé, the Mazda MX-5 (NC), the Mercedes B-Class, the Citroën C6, the Porsche Cayman and the Audi Q7.
September 2005 also saw the start of production of the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, which broke new ground in terms of performance, top speed and price. In addition, neither the Pagani Zonda F nor the Aston Martin V8 Vantage or the Ferrari F430 Spider attracted too much attention.
Of course, this can only be a brief selection of all the innovations that once enriched the automotive world. You can of course find out more in the very extensive brand/type database on Zwischengas. Or you can simply follow the links provided under some of the anniversary cars.
P.S. As has often been said, car anniversaries are a tricky thing, because the dates of the first launch, the start of production and the start of sales are often not in the same year ...
