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Why Is Mercedes-Benz Called "Mercedes-Benz"? A Short Animated Clip Answers

Unless you are well over 100 years old, you've probably heard the name "Mercedes-Benz" ever since you were born. With its cars spread all over the world, there isn't a corner of this planet where Daimler's vehicles aren't considered the pinnacle of elegance and engineering. We've taken this name for granted, even though it doesn't take that great of a detective to realize there's something really odd about it.
Mercedes-Benz animation 1 photo
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
Mercedes is a feminine name with Spanish origins, while Benz is a German surname, so who exactly was this woman who had such names and was important enough to have the world's oldest car brand named after her? Well, I expect that even if one doesn't know the full story behind the name, they've still heard that the Mercedes-Benz plate was born by fusing two different brands together.

The video - done using stop-motion and paper cut-outs for a better immersion into the late 19th and early 20th Century times it refers to - lasts for just two minutes, but this short time proves to be enough for uncovering the secret behind the naming of Mercedes-Benz. We could spoil it for you, but it would be a shame not to enjoy the animated clip to its fullest.

It is the work of three students from the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design - Annarita Matuschka, Eduard Losing, and Dirk Michael Flach - plus Stefan Heller, a freelance artist and animated filmmaker. The four also employed the help of German actor Boris Aljinovic, who was responsible for the voiceover, as well as somebody else who composed the original score.

"A Girl Called Mercedes" was created to mark the 10th anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz Museum, but it wasn't the only fun video produced for this special occasion. "Hungry for History" is another, even shorter clip that cleverly spots the potential to transform the museum's building into a car-eating dinosaur for one minute of historical footage riddled with surprise appearances of this hungry monster. You can watch both clips just down here, and if you're ever in Stuttgart, make sure you visit the Mercedes-Benz Museum for a first-hand experience. And since you're in town, give the Porsche Museum a chance too. Not to mention the BMW one is just 120 miles or so away.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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