Mercedes brand name completes 120 years

There are many milestones that Mercedes-Benz has achieved over the years, be it the first three wheeler using an  internal combustion engine or world's first production car to use a single-cylinder four-stroke engine. This year marks an important one for the luxury car manufacturer as it celebrates 120 years of the brand name, after the eleven-year-old daughter of Emil Jellinek - the Austrian entrepreneur with Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (DMG)

The oldest still existing Mercedes, a 40 hp Simplex from 1902

Emil, who was based out of Nice, France was a successful businessman and insurance agent in Vienna. One of the first customers of DMG, he used to sell automobiles to the society's highest circles. Emil also participated in racing events using cars from DMG under the pseudonym Mercedes. Later in 1900, DMG and Jellinek entered an agreement for the business of cars and engines. It was decided then that the new engine that would be developed under the agreement will have the name Mercedes. The first vehicle that came with the new engine was called the Mercedes 35, as the name suggests, a 35PS race car that was given Jellinek on December 22. Wilhelm Maybach, the chief engineer at DMG then made the first ever Mercedes that was known for its low center of gravity, its pressed steel frame, its light and high powered engine and its honeycomb radiator.

The name was registered as a trademark on June 23, 1902 and legally protected on September 26, 1902. In June 1903, Emil Jellinek obtained permission to call himself Jellinek-Mercedes from then on, making it the first time that a father has taken his daughter's name," Since then, the brand name â€" which was changed to Mercedes-Benz after the merger of the Daimler and Benz companies in June 1926.  Mercedes-Benz is the only automotive brand that bears a female name. "Women like Mercedes Jellinek or Bertha Benz shaped the success story of Mercedes-Benz from the start," says Bettina Fetzer, head of Marketing Mercedes-Benz AG.

Last year, Mercedes-Benz had showcased the Mercedes Vision Simplex, a concept that symbolises the brand's growth into one that further goes on to exemplify technology and luxury. The Vision Simplex's design draws inspiration from a momentous car from its history, the Mercedes 35PS from 1901. The Vision Simplex gets those outboard wheels, a vertically oriented body structure replete with a vintage style grille finished in rose-gold and period-correct Mercedes lettering. This also doubles up as an information display. Other noticeable bits are the design of the wheels themselves, which depict lightness, the two-tone paint scheme and the leather luggage compartment at the rear which denotes craftsmanship. There are no details on what powers the Simplex concept other than that fact that it isn't a conventional ICE.