Mercedes-Benz Museum, a Hit in 2010

Over the years, car manufacturers, especially the German ones, have learned that their business expands well beyond the actual manufacturing and selling of the cars. In time, owning a car has become a part of the customers' daily lives, one filled with history, heritage and, above all, evolution.

This is why, in Germany, most of the carmakers also operate their own museums, places where history is being brought back to life to remind us that a car is more than a pile of metal filled with hundreds of moving parts.

For Mercedes-Benz, the museum they operate will be of even greater significance next year, when the Germans are celebrating 125 years since Carl Benz filed for the patent on his first car.

To be at the center of next year's events, the Mercedes-Benz Museum will likely draw even more crowds next year. As a preview of what's to come, Mercedes announced today that in 2010 650,000 visitors entered the museum, with about 27 percent of them being foreign nationals who came to pay tribute to an icon of the automotive world.

"The fact we've managed to again increase the number of visitors in our fifth year makes us proud," said Michael Bock, Mercedes-Benz Classic manager. "It shows that our concept is spot on. Apart from the tour through the past, present and future of the automobile, we have hosted various exciting special exhibitions and numerous events in 2010. "

The museum hosts pretty much the entire history of the three-pointed star brand, including architecture, motorsport, commercial vehicles, technology and, of course, classic and modern Benzes.