Out of respect to the historic name and in response to potential investor displeasure Daimler AG has announced that its passenger car arm will be called Mercedes-Benz Cars.

After selling its majority position in Chrysler to Cerberus, the automaker sought shareholder approval to change its name from DaimlerChrysler to Daimler AG.

While shareholders were in favor of terminating the $36 billion rocky merger and excising "Chrysler" from the name, many felt it was important to respect Carl Friedrich Benz if in name only. In 1926 the Benz company merged with Gottlieb Daimler.

The approved name changes will re-christen the Mercedes Car Group as "Mercedes-Benz Cars," with the unit producing vans similarly named "Mercedes-Benz Vans." Additionally the DaimlerChrysler Bank will now be known as Mercedes-Benz Bank.

The truck division will remain Daimler Trucks with buses operating under Daimler Buses and the financial services arm going by Daimler Financial Services.

CEO Dieter Zetsche said, "The group name Daimler clearly indicates that we are writing a new chapter of our history, while at the same time continuing our tradition as the inventor of the automobile."

He likened the retention of the Benz name in key locations as the company paying homage to its unique heritage or "DNA."

The Mercedes Car Group is currently the second largest maker of premium cars in the world, just after BMW AG.