The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI). W1W is assigned to Mercedes-Benz, built in Germany (Europe). Any VIN that starts with W1W decodes to Mercedes-Benz. The sample VINs below are checksum-valid and start with W1W.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| WMI | W1W (VIN positions 1–3) |
| Manufacturer | Mercedes-Benz |
| Country of assembly | Germany |
| Region | Europe (from the first character, W) |
| Models seen here | Sprinter |
Mercedes-Benz test VINs · Decode a W1W VIN →
After the W1W WMI, positions 4–8 describe the model, body and engine; position 9 is the mod-11 check digit; position 10 is the model year; position 11 is the assembly plant; and positions 12–17 are the serial number. See the full 17-digit VIN format.
W1W is a Mercedes-Benz WMI. Every VIN beginning with W1W was built by Mercedes-Benz and decodes to that make.
The first character W places the manufacturer in Germany (Europe region) under the VIN standard.
No. They are synthetically generated but checksum-valid and use the real W1W WMI, so a decoder returns Mercedes-Benz. No real vehicle's VIN is used.