Mercedes. The history of the legend
Mercedes is more than just a style, luxury, usability, comfort, safety, quality, and reliability. This is a legend! Mercedes-Benz brand is evaluated as $ 60.355 B and took the first position in the ranking of the most expensive car brands in 2019. Then why Mercedes is the second most popular in the world? Who is the first? The top one is Toyota, apparently because most people live in Asian countries :)
The world’s most expensive vehicle, Mercedes-Benz CLK/LM, costs over $ 1.5 M. There is a billionaire who dressed his Mercedes with diamonds, and now his car costs more than $5M.
Mercedes-Benz is probably the most famous and recognizable automotive company, which is a part of one of the world’s largest automobile concerns Daimler AG with headquarters in Germany. In addition to the well-known Mercedes, trucks, buses, and other vehicles are also produced under the same brand. The Mercedes-Benz company produces a huge number of different cars: small and compact A-class cars, powerful large G-class off-road cars, presentable and expensive E and S-class cars, as well as minivans, trucks, tractors, convertibles, supercars.
How did it begin?
And it all began with a three-wheeled self-propelled carriage, created by Karl Benz in Germany in 1886. At the same time, another German, Gottlieb Daimler, introduced a four-wheeled self-propelled carriage. And in 1900, he released the Mercedes-35PS, which immediately became popular. Benz decided to keep up and produced the Blitzen Benz racing car, which was capable of developing 200 km/h! This healthy competition between talented German engineers eventually led to the merger of the two companies. DMG (Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft) and Benz & Cie (Benz) merged in 1926 and formed Mercedes-Benz, which was named after the most popular model of that time. The director post was offered to the legendary Ferdinand Porsche, who soon developed a new, 6-cylinder, Mercedes production model, which was nicknamed ‘death trap’ and became incredibly popular. Why did it get such a strange nickname? It could accelerate to 145 km/h! Can you imagine that it was possible to drive really fast on the German highways back in the 30s of the last century? This is very impressive, as at that time, people in the Middle East used donkeys and camels to travel, while a horse harnessed cart was the most popular means of transport in Russia…
Many legends are associated with both name and logo of Mercedes. By the way, in English, the second syllable of ‘Mercedes-Benz’ is stressed and sounds like ‘say’. Too many people mispronounce it :) And why ‘Mercedes’? Some people believe that the daughter of one of the founders of the concern had such a given name. Not exactly. The given name of the daughter of Emil and Rachel Jellinek was Adriana Manuela Ramona. Mercédès is the family nickname of the girl used at home. It is the Spanish for ‘mercy’. Her father, Emil Jellinek, Austrian businessman and diplomat, and an avid racer, was a partner of W. Maybach and G. Daimler. He liked the nickname so much that he used it first in racing, then in his business, and later as his additional last name. In 1902 in Paris, Emil showed Mercedes Simplex next to a huge portrait of his daughter. Mercedes Simplex from 1902 is the oldest extant Mercedes car.
DMG (Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft) and Benz & Cie (Benz) merged in 1926 and formed the Mercedes-Benz company, naming it after the most popular model at that time. Mercédès is the family nickname of a jewish girl used at home. It is the Spanish for ‘mercy’.
The origin of the logo
This story is even more interesting. The DMG founders used a three-point star to symbolize that their engines operate on water, land, and air. Benz&Cie used a steering wheel as a logo. After their merger, two companies merged their logos as well. The result, a three-point star inside the circle, is still in use. There is another version of the logo origin. Maybach, Daimler, and Jellinek argued about the logo for a long time. They were about to start fighting… At that moment the daughter of one of the founders entered the room, saw all this, stopped them, and told them to cross… their canes like the swords as a reconciling gesture :) Crossing canes, everyone suddenly realized how beautiful it looks. This way, thanks to a lady’s mercy, both name and logo appeared… When buying a Mercedes, remember that you’re buying a legend!
