Auto Lab Sterling Heights 2051 18 Mile Rd. Sterling Heights, MI 48314 (586) 731-9700 Mercedes-Benz traces its origins to Karl Benz's creation of the first  petrol -powered car, the  Benz Patent Motorwagen , patented in January 1886 and  Gottlieb Daimler and engineer  Wilhelm Maybach 's conversion of a stagecoach by the addition