Going Around the Benz

You would think DaimlerChrysler shareholders would be happy enough that the company is dropping the "Chrysler" from its name.

But a number of German shareholders don't like the proposed new name of Daimler A.G. They would prefer that the company revert to Daimler-Benz, the name before the 1998 star-crossed acquisition of Chrysler.

"Daimler A.G. sounds cold and unfeeling," said Paul Russmann, one of the shareholders opposing the name name change, according to Agence France-Presse. "Daimler-Benz A.G. sounds familiar and warm."

Another shareholder, the Associated Press reported, Bernd Gans, wrote:

"Replacing the traditional name of Benz with the name of the U.S. corporation, which at that time was already sufficiently well-known as a crisis company, was always regarded as arbitrary and in bad style"

Today, some 4,700 shareholders are meeting in Berlin to approve the new name of Daimler, after the company sold a majority stake in Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management.

The company said in a statement before the meeting that the new name was intended to differentiate between the corporate entity and its brands.

"Wherever the focus is on the group as a whole, the company wants to present itself consistently as Daimler, for example in its dealings with political decision-makers and the general public, in the financial markets, in its relations with the business media, and as an employer. The company also aims to present itself as Daimler in all areas where several brands are involved, thus providing an umbrella designation for all of the individual product brands."

In the text of his speech to shareholders, the chief executive, Dieter Zetsche, emphasized the strength of the Benz name in the Mercedes-Benz brand. "No other automobile brand shines as brightly as the Mercedes star," he said.

Benz was Karl Benz, widely considered the inventor of the gasoline-powered commercial automobile, in 1885. The company he founded merged with Daimler Motor in 1926. (Mercedes was the name of the 10-year-old daughter of a partner in Daimler, Emil Jellinek.)

In one sense, the Daimler-Benz name never made sense. While both important pioneers of the automobile in the late 19th century, Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler never met.

Jeffrey Cane