• February: Mercedes-Benz offers front seat belts on all car models as an optional extra ex factory. The lap belts are available for all vehicles with individual seats. From November, belts are also available for rear bench seats and one-piece driver's benches.
• 3 March: The Mercedes-Benz 300 is available with a ZF-Saginaw power-assisted steering gear as an optional extra. It is the first Mercedes-Benz model offered with power steering.
• April 1: Daimler-Benz purchases an 88% share in the equity capital of Auto Union GmbH, Ingolstadt/Düsseldorf.
• May: For the first time in the history of Daimler-Benz AG, company turnover exceeds DM 2 billion. Completion of the new high-rise administration block in Untertürkheim.
• July 2: The wedge-pin door lock with two security notches is registered as a patent. The innovative construction detail, which stops the door flying open or getting stuck in the event of an accident, is introduced into the product range in August 1959.
• The Cabriolet D 300d is not officially offered, but available on special order from July.
• July 30: "Mercedes-Benz Australia Pty. Ltd." is founded in Port Melbourne. The company, in which Daimler-Benz holds a one-third share, takes over assembly of Mercedes-Benz cars and commercial vehicles from CKD (completly knocked down) vehicle kits.
• August: The recently founded Studebaker subsidiary "Mercedes-Benz Sales, Inc." (MBS), located in South Bend, Indiana, takes over responsibility for sales of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in the USA.
• September 1: Press release of the 220 SE (W 128) with fuel injection engine. This long-established technology for improving engine performance is thus now available in series production. The additional cost compared with a 220 S fitted with a normal carburetor engine is DM 1,900. Production of the sedan from October (pre-production April 1958) and the Cabriolet A/C and the Coupe from October 1958 (pre-production in July 1958).
• At the same time the 190 D (W 121) is launched - a further addition to the diesel car model range - with a 50 hp, 4-cylinder engine. The only difference from the Type 190 is the diesel engine. Production from August
• September: The 100,000th 180 D diesel car is produced at the Sindelfingen plant less than five years after production began.
• From September the 300 SL become available with removable hardtop.
• October: Production at MB do Brasil, with a workforce of over 5,000 one of the country's biggest private companies, is now 60 vehicles per month.
• November: Annual production at Tata Engineering and Locomotive Comp. is now 6,000 units. Within some ten years, Daimler-Benz AG has invested DM 892 million, including DM 215 million in real estate and DM 477 million in movable property. The proportion of total company turnover derived from exports has now risen to 44.9% (previous year's figure: 41.6%).
• 1 December: Daimler-Benz offers a interior cooling system as an optional extra for the 300d model. This special equipment was developed mainly for use in tropical countries.
• Exports go to 136 different countries with a total of more than 2,000 sales and customer service operations.

180a and 190 D

In September, less than five years from the start of production of the 180 D, the 100,000th unit of this model rolls off the assembly line in Sindelfingen.

• 4 - 7 April: At the Coronation Safari, a rally across Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, John Manussis wins the overall classification in a Mercedes-Benz 219.

East African Coronation Rally