Mercedes-Benz Medium Sedan · Typ 400

W01

Early Mercedes-Benz luxury on the W01 chassis.

Production
1926
Built
8
Body
Sedan
Chassis
W01
Mercedes-Benz Medium Sedan (W01)

The first car to carry a Daimler-Benz W-number — and one the company decided not to build.

Ferdinand Porsche drew the 5/25 PS in 1926 as the smallest of three new saloons prepared in haste for the Berlin Motor Show that October, below the two-liter W02 and the three-liter W03. Like its bigger sisters it had six cylinders: a 1,392 cc side-valve unit good for 25 PS and 88 km/h, driving the rear axle through a three-speed gearbox, with rigid axles on semi-elliptic leaf springs and cable-operated brakes on all four wheels.

The board judged a six far too costly for a car of this size, pulled the launch, and told Porsche to design something cheaper. Eight W01s were completed as two-door tourers and saloons and none was ever sold. The follow-up W14 of 1928 substituted a 1,280 cc four and got no further, running to 28 prototypes before it too was dropped.

W01 interior
Cabin details of the W01, as preserved in period photography.

Every model.

1 model designation for 1926 — engines, chassis codes and production figures for the W01.

ModeloAños-modeloChasisMotorTransmisiónTotal
5/25 hp192601018

* La cifra de producción publicada cubre todas las series de ese modelo; la fuente no la desglosa más.

W01 side profile
Studio profile of the W01 — the proportions that defined this chassis.
W01 rear three-quarter view
Rear three-quarter view of the W01.

Engines.

The M01 as fitted to the W01.

M01

Inline-6
  • 01 1.4 L · 1,392 cc

    26 PS

    19 kW · 25 hp a 3,100 rpm

    64 N·m

    47 lb·ft a 2,000 rpm