O 3250: LONG-SERVING REGULAR IN PASSENGER TRANSPORT
Staged in May 1949, the Technical Export Fair was to provide companies, in particular German companies, with a significant economic stimulus in the years and decades ahead. The fair witnessed the premiere of the 300 engine series in the L 3250 truck and O 3250 bus, a unit that would continue to serve in light and medium-duty trucks for almost half a century.
At the same time, this engine series – continually updated and modernised over the years to come – became the basis of the Group’s global presence in the commercial vehicle segment.
The 300 engine series for commercial vehicles had first been conceived in the 1930s but for various reasons was never realised. Production of the OM 312, as the engine was designated, did not start until it had its own Mercedes-Benz three-tonne truck. The L 3250, presented in 1949, brought a sense of liberation for Daimler-Benz, since the existing three-tonner, the L 701 model, was based on the Opel Blitz – in the 1940s the Ministry of Armaments had ordered the vehicle to be built by both Mercedes-Benz and Borgward. At the same time, the O 3250 bus made its debut at the 1949 Technical Export Fair.
With its 90 hp (66 kW), the OM 312 proved a sensation in the early post-war years: the diesel engine had the same output per litre as a petrol engine. For this reason the
O 3250 bus received a euphoric welcome. But the O 3250 bus also allowed the diesel unit to demonstrate its power in urban, inter-urban and long-distance tourist traffic. The vehicle underwent a load capacity increase in 1950 and was subsequently given the designation O 3500. This bus was also one of the products upon which Mercedes-Benz do Brasil was established in São Paulo in October 1953.
The OM 312 engine also made a career for itself in India, with Tata. The 300 engine family saw the arrival of many new members in the years that followed. The developers kept pace with technological progress and continued to produce new variants. Not until 1996 did a successor appear in the form of the 900 engine series – although not even this completely spelled the end for the 300 series: today a unit with the designation OM 366 LA is still available in the L 1620 Classic truck produced in Brazil.
