Circles are a recurring theme in the badges of German car companies. Volkswagen keeps it nice and simple with its initials contained in one, BMW’s has a blue-and-white pattern representing the colours of the Kingdom of Bavaria (not, as is commonly believed, an aeroplane propeller), Audi’s is just four of them linked together (explained here), and Opel has one with a cool lightning strike through it.
Then there’s Mercedes, with its three-pointed star surrounded by yet another circle. We hardly give it any thought today, but that star came into being through a rather complex chain of different companies and trademarks, and has a meaning that’s somewhat been lost to time.
Mercedes 35 PS
The Mercedes name was first used by Daimler, one of the two companies that would merge in 1926 to form the Mercedes-Benz we know today. In 1900, entrepreneur Emil Jellinek oversaw Daimler’s creation of a highly advanced (for its day) racing car, the Mercedes 35 PS, named after his daughter, 35 PS Jellinek. Sorry, no, Mercédès Jellinek.
The car was an instant success, racking up record after record and achieving a mighty top speed of 53mph (hey, it was 1901, okay). The Mercedes name quickly became hugely respected, and by 1902, it had been registered as a trademark. Before long, it superseded Daimler as the brand name for its cars.
An early Mercedes logo
Come 1909, the company was looking for a new, easily-recognisable logo for Mercedes. Paul and Adolf Daimler, sons of company founder Gottlieb, had remembered a symbol their late father had used to mark out their family home on a postcard – a small, three-pointed star.
They suggested it to the company, and on 24 June that year, a trademark for the logo was applied for. It wasn’t just some random symbol once used on a postcard, though. In its days as a pioneering internal combustion engine manufacturer, Daimler made engines for motorboats and airships as well as cars, and each of the three points was said to represent one of these applications – land, sea and air. At first, it was just a star by itself, but it soon gained the familiar circle, together with ‘Mercedes’ lettering at the bottom.
The original logo of the merged Mercedes-Benz company
The star remained the symbol of Mercedes cars until 1926, when Daimler merged with Carl Benz’s car company and Mercedes-Benz was born. As a symbol of unity, the three-pointed star of Mercedes was merged with the laurel wreath that encircled Benz’s logo. Although the unadorned star is most prominently featured in most of the manufacturer’s branding these days, you’ll still find this original merged logo, featuring both the star and the wreath, as a small badge on the nose of pretty much every car Mercedes makes.
And that’s how the Mercedes badge came to be a three-pointed star, sometimes with a laurel wreath around it, and sometimes on its own. It’s all a bit more complicated than how Merc’s AMG performance brand came to have an apple tree on its logo.
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