Mercedes Estate cars for sale

A girl's name, painted on the bonnet of an early racing car, lives on after more than a century as the identity of one of motoring's great makes.

'Mercedes' was the daughter of Emil Jellinek who, when not racing cars, was the Austro-Hungarian consul in Nice. It was chosen because it sounded much snappier than DMG (Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft), which is what one half of the car-making partnership was called. It was also picked to avoid confusion because the Daimler brand had already become.

Mercedes-Benz formally joined in 1926, although Karl Benz is accredited as inventor of the modern car, with the Benz patent motor wagon in 1886. And Mercedes cars had carried the characteristic three-pointed star since 1910. It represented Gottleib Daimler's dream of 'universal motorisation, on land, sea and in the air'. This distinctive motif has long been at the heart of the Mercedes brand: even in 1928, Mercedes-Benz advertising used 'the star of your desires' as a slogan.

Today Mercedes-Benz lays claim to one of the richest histories of any make. The company has made some of the world's most memorable cars - the 1952 gullwing-doored 300 SL coupe, to name but one and has long been at the forefront of technical innovation. Mercedes were the first production cars to offer driver airbags, for example.

The marque has built over 20 million cars to date and now markets its biggest range, from the supermini-sized A-class to the luxury S-class saloon. Landmark cars from the last 40 years include the first S-class in 1968, the 190E, Mercedes' first compact saloon in 1984 and the A-class, the make's first small car, launched in 1998.

Among innovations newly available is an adaptive cruise control system, which measures the distance between your Mercedes and the car ahead and then automatically brakes to a safe following speed, bringing you to a complete halt if it thinks a collision is imminent and you haven't applied the brakes.