By Anna Griffin, Editor in Chief
Mercedes-Benz are no strangers to pioneering the auto industry since 1886, when Carl Benz was awarded a German patent number for a three- wheeled, self-propelled “Motorwagen,” resulting in today’s global, luxury, automotive empire.
It true homage to its heritage, Mercedes-Benz once more leads the automative pack venturing further into the green car industry, merging pure opulence with innovative engineering and technology, as futuristic luxury comes to life. Enter the Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6, named for its six meter length, a metric often associated with speedboats.
Boasting an engine that can achieve 750 horsepower; and an impressive 60 mph in less than four seconds, the jewel in the Vision’s crown is that it can charge 62 miles in five minutes with the average phone charger.
The extended, round ‘boat tail’ rear of the car is inspired by a luxury yacht, with interior features including a front windscreen as a transparent display, controllable by ‘gestures,’ and Mercedes-Benz’s traditional wood trim throughout.
‘This is a car you want to drive yourself,’ said Gorden Wagener, the Daimler AG head of design, said at the launch in California on Friday.
‘This is something you pass to your children, like a Leica camera or a chronograph watch. Driving has been a pleasure since 130 years and will stay that way another 130 years,’ Bloomberg quoted Mr Wagener as saying.
Sustainability has long been a consideration for Mercedes-Benz and its parent company, Daimler. The 1991 S-Class was the world’s first CFC-free vehicle, in both its air conditioning and entire production process. Vehicle interiors have long used steam-expanded foam, sustainably forested wood, and natural products from coconut, flax, hemp and olives, while water-borne paint and coded plastic parts for recycling have also been employed for decades. Half of the patents earned in 2010 were for green technologies, with Blue TEC rated #1 in CO2 emissions in Germany’s luxury class. Offering hybrid choices in some of its most popular models, and having released the B-Class Electric Drive in 2015, Mercedes-Benz ups the ante once more with this glamorous, luxurious coupé, as Maybach goes electric.
IMAGES COURTESY OF MERCEDES-BENZ.