Mercedes-Benz Design Studio

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

On my second day in Stuttgart I got to visit the Mercedes-Benz design studio. Since a lot of the stuff at the site is top secret, I had to turn over my cameras and iPhone. So all the pics in this post were shot by a Mercedes photographer during the presentation and then provided to us the next day.

We started out with an up-close look at the current E-Class range, then went on to discuss some of their more recent concepts. If you dig the shape of the F800 below (revealed last month in Geneva), you’ll be happy to know that much of the design language will show up in the next version of the C-Class, due in 2014.

Next they took us into a darkened room where they showed off their Autodesk Showcase software and the huge screen capable or presenting 3D concepts in 1:1 scale in various colors and with different backgrounds. A light table with mini color-coded models allows you to rotate and zoom the renderings on the screen to your heart’s content. Pretty cool! There was quite a bit of discussion about design process, which takes four to five years for new models. Mercedes futurologist Alexander Mankowsky told us that they see themselves as the “ambassadors of European style.” I wonder how the Italians feel about that…

Finally we went over to the interior design area, where they showed us what goes into creating their dashboards, seats, door panels, etc. Throughout the morning there was a lot of talk of the environment and sustainability, which seemed funny to me when we’re talking about luxury cars. For example, Mercedes even has their own dedicated farms to raise bulls for the leather (not cows–they get pregnant and their skin stretches too much!). However, Mercedes cars are definitely built to last, which is a good thing.

Lots of pics after the jump!