Short early history of the company with the three-pointed star
Currently part of the conglomerate DaimlerChrysler, Mercedes-Benz is a German company that produces cars.
Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach and Emil Jellinek
The inventions of the above first three persons were instrumental in ushering in the automotive age. The last person, Emil Jellinek, influenced how the products of the first three went down in history.
Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz created - separate - businesses, in Mannheim Benz founded the firm Benz & Cie. in October 1883, in Cannstatt Daimler formed the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) in November 1890.
Wilhelm Maybach was the chief engineer at DMG and was eventually responsible for the development of the first Mercedes car.
Both Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler used their own names - Benz and Daimler - for their engines and vehicles. The trademark of Benz & Cie. remained the same, but the turn of the century (1900) brought a new trade name for the products from DMG. The daughter of the Austrian businessman Emil Jellinek was named Mercedes.
At the beginning of April 1900, Emil Jellinek made an agreement with DMG concerning the sales of Daimler cars and engines. Part of this agreement was the development of a new engine bearing the name Daimler-Mercedes
. The first vehicle to be fitted with the new engine, a 35 hp racing car, was delivered to Jellinek by DMG on December 22, 1900. This first Mercedes caused a stir in the first year of the new century. It featured numerous innovations and is regarded today as the first modern automobile.
The three-pointed star
The sons of Daimler, Paul and Adolf (remember, this is before WWII), proposed to use a star as the company's symbol and in June 1909 this proposal was accepted. Both three-pointed and four-pointed stars were registered as trademark, though only the three-pointed star was used1. From 1910 it began to feature on the front of the cars on the radiator.
The star was supposed to symbolise Daimler's ambition of universal motorization - on land, on water and in the air
. Apparently it is called the 'lucky star'2.
Merger one
After the first World War difficult times started for the Daimler and Benz companies. In 1924 they formed a syndicate. The companies started marketing their products jointly, although still under separate trademarks. In June 1926 they finally merged to form Daimler-Benz.
A new trademark was designed that brought together the main characteristics of both the existing emblems. The three-pointed star of DMG was surrounded by its trade name Mercedes and the other famous name Benz. The laurel wreath previously featured on the Benz emblem now entwined the two names. This trademark still adorns Mercedes-Benz vehicles today.
. . ..... . .
1 Apart from one car specially built for someone... some government character I think, can't remember now, will follow-up
2 According to TallRoo, read his excellent writeup.
. . ..... . .
Sources:
http://www.mercedes.com/e/mbclassic/default.htm