At a special shareholder's meeting on October 4, DaimerChrysler officially became Daimler AG. According to Autobild, many shareholders believe a rose by any other name stinks. Minority shareholder rep Bernd Köhler pointed out that Daimler paid Jaguar/Ford $20m for the rights to use the name. But “what happens if Jaguar gets purchased by a Chinese or Indian company? Will there be five-thousand Dollar Daimlers?" Carl Benz’ great-great granddaughter Heidemarie Hirsch was equally indignant. "Why is Daimler disregarding Benz, who was the inventor of the motor car?" Shareholder activist and economics professor Prof Ekkehard Wenger said the name change was "simply stupid.” Shareholders also criticized Daimler’s new $100m typography and graphics package. "It looks more like the logo of a pharmaceutical company, or of an airline, or an insurance company” complained Uli Mayer-Johannsen of MetalDesign. Graphics designer Kurt Weidemann performed design work for the Daimler-Benz and Mercedes-Benz brands for 15 years. "In graphic art terms, Daimler's new appearance looks miserable.”
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I second that. Daimler-Benz has a long history. Did they avoid it because it reminded them of their mistake (i.e. buying Chrysler)?
Can someone tell me why they had to pay Jaguar/Ford for the naming rights?
Daimler was once an independent car brand in Great Britain that in the early 60’s was absorbed by Jaguar. They produced cars under that banner for a number of years and I assume still have naming rights. If Ford sells Jaguar, however, I’m not sure if the “Daimler” name would go with it.
Presumably if Daimler paid Ford $20M they bought some of the rights to the Daimler name that Jaguar owned – hopefully avoiding the prospect of Chinese built Daimlers.
Short history of Daimler UK here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler_Motor_Company
Jaguar still has the ability to use the Daimler name – they’ve used it on top end XJs. Thus, when Jaguar is sold, the new owner would have the name and the ability to stick it on cheap peasant mobiles. I read not long ago that Daimler AG was trying to buy the name outright from Ford to separate it from the sale of Jaguar.
Actually, I always liked the posh, understated way that Daimler called its version of the XJ-12 the “Daimler Double-Six”.
Perhaps, if Chery or Tata purchased Jaguar, they could market a three-cylinder car as the “Daimler Half-Six”.
Daimler Agriculture huh?