A new Mercedes-Benz Style division has been set up to design high-end and luxury products outside the automotive sector.
First out of the blocks is a joint venture with Eurocopter, which resulted in the launch of the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style chopper in Geneva recently. Other projects are likely to include superyachts, luxury furniture and interiors.
The new helicopter features a Mercedes-themed interior, with seat upholstery in the cockpit and cabin in a range of deluxe materials and colours, and even wooden flooring and ceiling panels. Ambient lighting is borrowed from the E- and S-Class cars, while the interior is also fully configurable in the manner of an SUV.
It is the only helicopter in its class that can seat up to eight passengers, they say, because the cabin layout was inspired by M-B's new R-Class range. All seats are mounted on rails and can be quickly and easily reconfigured or removed to make room for luggage. There are also three multi-function boxes with features such as a cool box, cup holder, table, 15-inch monitor and DVD player. The interior offers supreme flexibility for both business and private travel: in the partition wall which separates the cockpit from the cabin, extra storage space is provided by drawers.
Mercedes-Benz has made multi-purpose storage a feature of the tail as well. Whether it's golf clubs for a day on the links with business partners (You're in the wrong job? You and me both, matey! Ed.), or bikes and surfboards for a family holiday, the high-capacity luggage compartment has numerous attachment points on the floor and walls.
The partition between the cabin and the cockpit has fully retractable windows, although why anyone might want a privacy option in a luxury heli... Oh, hang on!
Mercedes-Benz's Vice President of Design Gorden Wagener was in the UK this week to introduce the new Mercedes-Benz Style brand, as well as giving media types some insights into his views on the company's automotive design outlook.
We met the affable Royal College of Art trained designer at Mercedes-World in Brooklands, where he talked us around both the SLS Gullwing which he designed, as well as the latest F800 fuel-cell/hybrid configured saloon concept that's said to offer a clear idea of what we can expect in the future from premium automobiles made by Mercedes-Benz.
According to Wagener, the goal of Mercedes-Benz designers is to 'represent European luxury to the world', which particularly seems to mean Asia where there is significant demand for a more 'opulent' style than the sometimes austere products on offer from German rivals. (China is expected to consume 1/3rd of the world's luxury goods over the next decades, he suggests.)
Wagener also wants design leadership to be the first thing people think when they hear the name Mercedes-Benz:
F800 Style - one Gorden did earlier...
"With 125 years of heritage, our brand identity must include traditional and modern values. We have heritage, and an iconic history which inspired the SLS from the 300SL. We have the future, where we aim to embody refined sportiness through cars like the Concept Shooting Break (sic), and innovation, symbolizing the aesthetic of sustainability, inspired by shapes in nature."
Well, we think that's what he said. Now pass the crayons, I used to do fantastic helicopters...
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 ...and some SLS sketches |
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