Evidently tired of pursuing sales volumes and racing to the bottom, Mercedes-Benz is pivoting sharply upmarket with the Vision Iconic concept, debuting at Shanghai Fashion Week. This menacing luxury coupé blends some radical new ideas with a surprisingly elegant design.
Long and low with a never-ending bonnet, the show car references sports cars from Mercedes’ past and present, such as the gullwing-doored 300SL, SLS AMG and AMG GT. The Vision Iconic also incorporates the brand’s controversial “iconic grille”, finished in chrome and supersized to almost cartoonish proportions.
Funny that, because the illuminated lattice – which appeared almost comical on the GLC EV – looks right at home here, bringing to mind the upright grilles of the W108, the W111 and the iconic 600 “Grosser”. Here, the Three-pointed Star is also lit up, mounted in its traditional “gunsight” position above the bonnet.
The grille is flanked by Mercedes’ ostentatious tristar headlights, although the rest of the car is rather restrained with just the vertical fender vents, large turbine-like wheels, flush door handles (for the likely rearwards-opening doors), and slim taillight bars adorning the voluptuous bodywork.
Incidentally, the deep black “paint” is actually a solar panel-like coating that, on a mid-sized SUV, is claimed to produce enough electricity to travel up to 12,000 km per year, in addition to containing no rare earths or silicon and being easily recyclable.
All the decor has clearly been reserved for the outlandish Art Deco interior, which Mercedes calls “hyper-analogue”. The idea is that highly automated driving will turn automotive cabins into lounges, providing greater emphasis on creating experiences for the occupants.
To that end, the Vision Iconic features a glass cigar-shaped dashboard known as the Zeppelin, housing ornate chronograph-inspired analogue instrumentation that performs an animation when a door is opened. There are also no less than four clocks in the centre (one actually functions as a visualisation for the AI-powered voice control) and an unexplained metal cylinder with a topological pattern.
Elsewhere, you’ll find intricate mother-of-pearl marquetry on the dash and doors, as well as the striking, almost ship-like four-spoke steering wheel. The latter, which also features a glass hub with the Mercedes logo, is connected to a steer-by-wire system and rear-wheel steering to shrink the turning circle and eliminate the need to repeatedly twirl the ‘wheel.
Despite it being just a concept, Mercedes says the Vision Iconic comes as standard with enhanced Level 2 semi-autonomous city driving, with the ability to add Level 4 highly-automated highway driving. With no need to actively drive the car, the occupants are able to luxuriate on blue bench seats. Once the journey ends, the Vision Iconic is able to take over parking duties, thanks to Level 4 parking irrespective of the infrastructure.
Underpinning all of this is a “neuromorphic” computing said to mimic the functionality of a human brain. This makes for faster and more efficient AI-based calculations, resulting in quicker driver assist reactions, a tenfold improvement in efficiency and a 90% reduction in energy usage for autonomous driving functions.
Obviously, the Vision Iconic will never enter production, but some of its design cues could influence the next electric S-Class – replacing the much-maligned EQS – and its possible coupé derivative. What do you think of the Batmobile-like styling? Let us know in the comments.
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