Hans Nibel

Hans Nibel (1880 to 1934) was a German mechanical engineer who spent three decades designing cars and engines for Benz and Cie and, after the 1926 merger, for Daimler-Benz. Born in Olleschau in what was then Austria-Hungary, he studied engineering at the Technical University of Munich and joined the Benz design office in Mannheim in 1904. Four years later he became its chief designer, and his team's racing and record cars, among them the Blitzen Benz, helped bring the head-controlled engine, the four-valve engine and dual ignition into wider use. He also designed an aircraft engine in 1909 and worked with Prosper L'Orange on early diesel engines, which led to the first diesel truck from Benz in 1923. He was a strong advocate of the Benz and Daimler merger. In 1929 he succeeded Ferdinand Porsche as technical director, and in the following years he oversaw the underslung chassis of the affordable Mercedes-Benz W15, the supercharged luxury Typ 380, the rear-engined Typ 130 and the W25 Silver Arrow racing car. He died of a heart attack at Stuttgart station in November 1934, before several of his designs reached customers.