Mercedes-Benz Museum hosts free Family Day on July 5, 2026 with historic rides and EV tech

Mercedes-Benz Museum is throwing open its doors for a free Family Day on Sunday, July 5, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., packed with hands-on activities for kids and families. The event centers on the museum’s atrium and Level 0, where partners from across the region and the company itself will host creative, sports and educational stations. No registration is required and admission is completely free.

The headline act is rides in historic vans and trucks from Mercedes-Benz Vans and Mercedes-Benz Trucks, timed to coincide with the museum’s new special exhibition “130 Years of Commercial Vehicles.” The Mercedes-Benz Experimental Charging Vehicle (ELF) will also be on display, showcasing next-gen EV charging tech including ultra-fast automated charging, integrated photovoltaics and vehicle-to-X charging.

Kids can meet a host of walking mascots, including Carlotta from the Mercedes-Benz Museum and guests such as Arti (German Aerospace Center), Fritzle (VfB Stuttgart), Johnny Blue (TVB Stuttgart), Luftikus (Luftballon parenting magazine), Max der DAKs (DAK-Gesundheit) and Tom Targa (Porsche Museum).

Partner programs range from the Forscherfabrik Schorndorf’s “Blue-Bots” robot beetles and spinning-top painting stations to the Sprungbude Filderstadt mobile ninja course and Tripsdrill adventure park’s Frisbee wall and shuffleboard. Hitradio antenne 1 brings a kids’ radio program with a pedal-car course and bouncy castle, while Radio TEDDY hosts its summer tour with games, music and an activity parcours from Kinderhotels.com. The Württembergische Versicherung offers a surf simulator and a giant Tetris wall, and the VfB Stuttgart pitches in with penalty shootouts, hockey goals and table tennis. The DAK-Gesundheit runs a ring-toss booth, Lego builds a life-size G-Class from bricks, and magician Thorsten Strotmann performs two shows at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The German Red Cross will have a converted bus serving as a first-aid station.

Parallel to the Family Day, the adjacent Mercedes-Benz Stuttgart branch celebrates “20 Years of Mercedes-Benz Center” with displays of current models and services. Highlights include the AMG GT 4-Door Coupé, the new VLE, the smart #2 show car and the new S-Class. Visitors can take workshop tours, enter prize draws—including a weekend in the new Mercedes-Benz CLE Cabrio—and see the Experimental Charging Vehicle ELF in action.

Mercedes-Benz Museum itself is offering rides in a faithful replica of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen—the world’s first automobile, patented on January 29, 1886—plus historic van and truck rides to mark “140 Years of Innovation” and “130 Years of Commercial Vehicles.” Mercedes-Benz Trucks will run three classic trucks and a vintage bus, plus a truck-racing simulator. A special presentation on the Mercedes-Benz “Pangu” advanced driver-assistance system in China will highlight automated driving in complex urban traffic. The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship beVisioneers will showcase four sustainability projects led by young researchers, while the in-house fire brigade and medical service will display current and classic emergency vehicles. The SG Stern sports club pitches in with football darts, penalty shootouts, table football, table tennis, basketball and more.