Vellum Venom Vignette: Does Benz’s retro-futuristic Vision require so many words?

Car-design press releases are generally a cornucopia of stylistic filler words designed to delight the soul and fog the mind, but Mercedes’ release on the Vision One-Eleven was a bit much, even for me. I mean, it was over 9000 words. How on earth can a press release discussing an homage to a 1970s minimalist design get away with this? All we truly needed were six:

Look at our reimagined orange wedge!

Or maybe seven:

ZOMG look at our reimagined orange wedge!

But no, Mercedes instead told us about the many ways it is “creating iconic luxury.” Its take on Bruno Sacco’s delightful C-111 concept car from 1970 was the main event; everything else was mostly filler.

I take issue with this approach: Anything related to the C-111 deserves a standalone press release, as the original orange doorstop was a gullwing doored, mid-engined delight powered by either a Wankel rotary, a diesel, or a turbocharged V-8 engine. It truly stole our hearts. Now it’s back, sort of.

The 1970s was a long time ago and, well, things have improved significantly since. Enter the Vision One-Eleven, a name that uses absolutely more letters and words to evoke the minimalism provided by the C-111. No wonder the press release was so long. Even the captions on the manufacturer-provided photography came with a word salad on the side.

No matter, the biggest change from retro C111 to modern Vision One-Eleven is the elimination of the traditional upright greenhouse. The pillars are there, somewhere, but the feel is that of a melted cab that slides across the entire wheelbase. The silhouette would make a cab-forward Dodge Intrepid blush with jealousy.

The insane level of cabin space is thanks to an electric powertrain utilizing a YASA axial-flux motor and a “liquid-cooled cylindrical-cell battery with Formula-1 inspired cell chemistry.” That said, Mercedes provided no hard numbers in this absolute unit of a press release. The motor’s packaging benefits likely make for a concept car with prestigious, Mercedes SL–worthy amounts of space.

The C-111’s interior wasn’t the star of that particular show, but the Vision One-Eleven’s silver/orange/white interior might actually overshadow the exterior. The pixelated lights and dashboard technology are a delightful homage to the era of Giorgio Moroder–infused disco, though Hyundai kinda beat Benz to the punch with recent 8-bit styling statements. No matter, interiors are far more important these days, as showing off some killer app within a dashboard is seemingly mandatory. Gorden Wagener, chief design officer, had his own thoughts on the Vision’s radical exterior and interior styling:

Our all-electric vision show car is the modern-day interpretation of the C 111, which was avant-garde at the time. The element of surprise comes from its exceptionally clean, purist and, at the same time, extremely muscular proportions. This iconic clarity is also reflected in the interior. The equally sensual but minimalist design language stands for ICONIC LUXURY by Mercedes-Benz.

The paragraph has merit, but I stand by my ZOMG look at our reimagined orange wedge comment—it accomplishes the same thing with more impact. It’s a shame that we didn’t get to learn about the (presumably radical) electric motor and battery technology, as it likely influenced the exterior and interior design. Hopefully there will be more information on the Vision One-Eleven in the future . . .

. . . Because any Mercedes-Benz with gullwing doors, orange paint, and a front fascia with pursed lips deserves to be more than just a chapter in a novel about luxury design. This right here is a standalone beauty.

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