Daimler sheds Chrysler from its corporate name

The corporate name DaimlerChrysler ended Thursday as it had begun nine years ago, with squabbling over what to call the carmaker.

Shareholders approved management’s proposal to rename the group simply Daimler AG -- erasing an unwelcome legacy of the failed $36-billion merger in 1998 that linked Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Group -- but only after investor grumbling.

The great-great-grandniece of German automotive pioneer Carl Benz urged shareholders to restore her ancestor’s name to the masthead and right a historic injustice.

“The company could also be called Benz AG,” suggested Heidemarie Hirsch, whose family tree includes the man who in 1886 filed the first patent for an automobile.

Eager to respect the Benz name and head off investor anger, Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche earlier told shareholders the group would call its passenger car business Mercedes-Benz Cars.

The move means the premium division Mercedes Car Group will become Mercedes-Benz Cars, the van unit will be called Mercedes-Benz Vans and DaimlerChrysler Bank will be renamed Mercedes-Benz Bank.

Benz’s company merged with that of Gottlieb Daimler in 1926 but his name was sacrificed when the now-abandoned transatlantic merger with Chrysler went through.

Finally fed up after years of yo-yo earnings, the group sold a majority stake in Chrysler to buyout group Cerberus Capital Management earlier this year.