Over the years, Mercedes-Benz has been synonymous with luxury, style, performance, safety and tech innovation. That is the reason why it is often used in movies to portray a character who is wealthy, successful, suave, or has a good taste in cars.
To get a better picture, just think of characters like Dominic Toretto in Fast and Furious, or the real-life ultra-rich car enthusiasts like Fairfield’s real estate icon Louis Ceruzzi Jr., who just couldn’t get enough of Mercedes that he actually owns 12 of them.
In this article, let’s look back at the top 5 memorable moments of Mercedes-Benz in movies lately. The list below features blockbuster films where the iconic three-pointed star brand either had a major role to play in the plot or it merely made a special cameo.
1. Jurassic Park Installments
Jurassic World is the most successful movie in its opening week to date. If there is one film franchise that heavily made use of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, this is it. From its first movie Jurassic Park up to the latest in the franchise, it had the three-pointed star brand written all over it. The presence of Mercedes was such that the press strongly criticized it for going too far in its product placements. The popular ranges featured here were the M-Class, Unimog, G-Class, and most recently, the GLE Coupe.
2. A Good Day to Die Hard
The final installment so far in the Die Hard film also showcased a lot of Mercedes cars and trucks. Overall, there were 70 units from the brand that appeared here, which include the latest models in its core series. Although the movie failed to please a lot of movie critics, it had one of the most unforgettable vehicle chase scenes. The early moments of the film showed Willis’s character giving a chase to a massive US Cougar Mine-Resistant Ambush (MRAP) vehicle using a Unimog and later a G-Class. Jai Courtney was a part of the scene too driving a modest Sprinter van.
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
The Mercedes-Benz W123 is considered by known classic car restoration specialist Mark Cosovich and author Martin Buckley as the finest saloon car of the 20th century. The distinction was mainly because of the auto’s impressive engineering. Therefore, it’s no surprise that it still existed in the post-apocalyptic world of Max Rockatansky. The body of its limousine variant just served as the driver’s cockpit on top of a salvaged American M814 military cargo truck though in order for it to be able to conquer the harsh terrain of the desert. It was named as the “People Eater’s Limousine” after the despicable villain who was driving it.
4. The Hangover
The Hangover was funny the first-time around. But as the same plot of having a couple of guys getting wasted or drugged to a point that they do not remember their adventures the evening prior is recycled in the succeeding sequels, its magic dwindled down. This featured the rare 1965 Mercedes-Benz 220SE Convertible. Reports said that five of the models were actually used in the shooting of the film. Out of the five, three were geniune convertible classes while the other two were modified coupes to resemble the former. Sadly, one of the convertibles and one of the coupes were destroyed during the filming process.
5. Fast & Furious Film Series
The appearance of Mercedes-Benz over the early Fast & Furious movie series were on a “blink and you’ll miss” basis. Fast-forward to the sixth and seventh installment of the franchise, it somehow gained more exposure. In one part of Furious 7, the G-Class was utilized by the villain’s henchmen as mode of transport. But the most unforgettable moment where a Mercedes was involved was in the post-credits scene of Fast Six. It was where one of the most beloved characters named Han, played by Sung Kang, was killed as his ride was rammed by a 1992 Mercedes-Benz S-Klasse driven by the villainous Ian Shaw, played by Jason Statham.