The Story Behind the Mercedes Logo

Given its name, it’s no surprise that both “Mercedes” and “Benz” refer to people who played pivotal roles in creating Mercedes-Benz. What may surprise you is exactly how their contributions shaped the brand’s name. Rather than honoring the two company leaders directly, Mercedes-Benz is named after two landmark cars that came to symbolize their respective firms.

The first was the 1901 Mercedes, produced by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG). This model grew out of a series of cars commissioned by Emil Jellinek, an Austrian diplomat and avid racer who generated tremendous consumer interest in DMG vehicles. As a result, Jellinek joined DMG’s leadership team, and the cars he ordered were branded with his daughter’s name, Mercedes. In fact, he became so enamored with the name that he later changed his own surname to Jellinek-Mercedes.

The second was the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, unveiled in 1885. Widely regarded as one of the world’s first production automobiles, it also made Karl Benz famous—though its success owed much to his wife, Bertha. Recognizing her husband’s genius, she invested her dowry in his company and famously drove the Patent-Motorwagen on its first long-distance journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim. Acting as both driver and mechanic, she overcame every mechanical challenge en route, cementing the Motorwagen as the emblem of Benz & Cie, the firm that would later merge with DMG.

When DMG and Benz & Cie joined forces, they merged DMG’s three-pointed star with Benz’s laurel wreath to create the forerunner of today’s Mercedes-Benz emblem. Gottlieb Daimler’s children recalled that he once sent a postcard to their mother predicting a three-pointed star shining over his factory would bring prosperity—though a four-pointed version was also designed and never used. The laurel wreath, a powerful European symbol of victory and authority dating back to ancient Greece and Rome, surrounded the Benz name. Together, the star and wreath formed a logo whose three points now represent the brand’s ambition to motorize land, air, and sea.