Although the name was not lodged as a trade name until 23 June 1902 and not registered legally until 26 September, the brand name eventually would be applied to an automobile model built by Wilhelm Maybach to specifications by Emil Jellinek.

This was created in 1926 when it was applied to all vehicles produced by the new company, Daimler-Benz AG, resulting from the merger of Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in that year.

The last name of Carl Benz was retained in the new brand, but since DMG had sold exclusive licences to foreign companies, they could not use the name of their founder, Daimler, legally in all countries and decided to use the name of their most popular model.

On 30 March 1900, a few weeks after the death of Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Bauer decided spontaneously to enter the Nice-La Turbie hill climb, but crashed fatally after hitting a rock on the first turn while avoiding spectators.

Nonetheless, Emil Jellinek came to an agreement with DMG on 2 April 1900 by promising the large sum of 550,000 Goldmark if Wilhelm Maybach would design a revolutionary sports car for him, later to be called the Mercedes 35 hp, of which 36 units had to be delivered before 15 October.

Jellinek soon became a member of the DMG Board of Management and obtained the exclusive dealership for the model—that would become the new Mercedes 35 hp—for France, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, and United States of America.

The director of the French Automobile Club, Paul Meyan, stated: "We have entered the Mercedes era", a sentiment echoed by newspapers worldwide.