From paper to clay

Each design project can produce as many as 20 proposals that are examined by the Group’s Board of Management, which then chooses three or four promising ideas. These ideas make the leap from a sketch or a computer animation to a detailed, varnished clay model. The process ends with one selected model being built to scale at headquarters in Germany. "It’s an unbelievably great feeling to see your baby on the road," says Rhoades, who together with Wagener and Senior Vice President Peter Pfeiffer developed the concept for the Group’s latest research vehicle — the F 700, which is a futuristic version of the S-Class.

"Unique designs require at least some of the work to be done by hand. Working only with a computer produces rigid forms." - Senior design sculptor Paul Slaughter was the first employee hired in Irvine in 1990, when the studio was still just an empty hall with one telephone line and no furniture, tools, or computers. He still swears by the handcrafted quality of clay models as the key to producing forwardlooking designs.

The vehicle, whose aerodynamically streamlined design is based on bionic techniques, is a computer lab on wheels that houses the latest innovations for comfort, safety, navigation, and environmental protection. Its vertically arranged headlights, for example, contain intelligent laser scanners that monitor the road ahead, while a Diesotto engine with a hybrid module hums under the hood. “F vehicles are like our free-style events; production design is our compulsory exercise,” says Wagener. He views both as a challenge, however, since not having factory specifications to comply with doesn’t make it any easier to dream up creative designs.

Los Angeles is an ideal location to dream up ideas that will help shape tomorrow’s Mercedes-Benz vehicles. First of all, the LA metropolitan area, with its 13 million residents, is a mecca for car fans and enthusiasts who like to work on and improve their vehicles

in accordance with their personal tastes. “There were several good reasons why we chose the LA area to open the first Advanced Design Studio outside of Germany in 1990,” says Benjamin Dimson, also a designer in Irvine. “For example, the people here are more obsessed with their cars than are people elsewhere.”

Lifestyle trends in and around LA continue to be driven by people’s desire to own automobiles tailored to their individual needs. These West Coast trends generally spread to the rest of the world sooner or later. It was in Los Angeles, for example, that the surfing craze was born in the mid-1930s, and surfing eventually gave birth to skateboarding and snowboarding. Of course, those who wish to go to the ocean, desert, or mountains to do any of these things need a network of highways. They also need vehicles like SUVs and pickups that can support the most diverse activities. Even though such vehicles are often used only in cities, they nevertheless express the desire for an active lifestyle. And that’s exactly what drivers are looking for in the design of their vehicles.

The power of Hollywood

Despite its auto mania, southern California is also the home of many initiatives that are aimed at making cars more environmentally friendly. The first freeway in the region opened in 1935 — and the first publicized smog incident occurred in 1943. Later on, in the mid-1970s, the first catalytic converters were launched in California. Today California remains the leader in the U.S. — if not the world — when it comes to passing emission and fuel economy regulations that oblige vehicle and engine designers to “think green” when going about their work. Technical innovations from the Golden State, and Hollywood celebrities, are two additional key factors that continue to have a long-term impact on American society, the U.S. economy, and mobility in general. In fact, the vehicles used in successful films, or driven by successful actors and ­actresses, often send a positive signal to consumers.

It’s therefore not surprising that all big-name automakers have set up design studios in the LA area to tap into the region’s creative minds, including students from the famous Art Center College of Design. “We don’t blindly follow fashion here,” says Wagener. “Instead, we try to identify long-term trends that will increase the value of the Mercedes-Benz brand for decades to come — ideas that meet the highest demands for engineering, performance, comfort, and safety.” That’s why designers must “live in the future” and think at least two or three vehicle generations (around 14–21 years) ahead. “We get our inspiration for this,” says Wagener, “from all types of encounters — with other drivers in traffic jams or at traffic lights, at the beach, on the road, and from our in-house trend researchers in Germany.”