by Wallace Wyss –
Mercedes is taking Tesla seriously now as a worthy adversary, though Mercedes has been around at least 100 years longer. Their latest show car has many innovations that go beyond their present electric sedan but could be incorporated in the next generation.
Here’s my opinion:
FRONT An awful lot like a Tesla. You would think they would want a faux grille-Mercedes has always had a grille.
SIDE The flared front fender has been in many performance cars in the past, meant to imply the powerful engine needs to vent some hot air but it’s a bit pretentious on an electric which has no ICE engine. There’s some look of an Oldsmobile four door sedan in the side view.
REAR The thin blade taillight treatment seems Volovoish but is nonetheless neat and strong in image. The side vent is a nod to Aston Martin.
IN SUM It is an expensive looking car and a little more modern than the Model S or the Lucid Air. It is showy but not gaudy. The big achievements of the design is a coefficient of drag of .17 and a claimed mileage range of over 600 miles. The Kamm tail must contribute to these excellent numbers. To be able to drive this car for five days without stopping to recharge is true luxury!
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss reports on cars on his radio show Autotalk, Thursdays on KUCR FM Riverside, CA.
Photos compliments of Mercedes.
A very nice looking car and I agree on Wallace’s design comments. The Model S is still a nice looking design all of these years later, but as Mercedes and other larger car companies come out with guns blazing and designs that are more current, Tesla will need to up their game…from a design and range standpoint. The big thing people will be looking for, besides design of course, is a fix for range anxiety. Not only a long range out of the shoot, but the ability to find charging stations and ability to charge quickly. Tesla has a huge leg up on the competition by many years of research and development, and if they are to remain the leader in electric cars, will have to be one step ahead of the major manufacturers who are out gunning for Tesla.
I agree with you Tesla’s idea of not having a yearly or 3-year interval in a new design was a great way to save money but just as women inevitably want to shop for the new year’s fashions, folks want to have something that bespeaks of their prosperous status–look at me, they;re saying with a purchase–I’m wearing the latest Gucci-Pucci whatever. So as other automakers began to market EVs with more sex appeal, Tesla will have to decide, do we get on this bandwagon or not?
But I am wondering deep down if Tesla owners are frankly more intellectual than ICE drivers and beyond buying the -latest malarkey? The Teslas are after ll not cars but computers that happen to be self propelled. Who trades in their computer just because the new model has got a new shaped exterior? The makers of ICE cars have been caught with their pants down (that analogy might not apply but it’s fun to say it) when more of the customer base each year realizes they bought their ICE cars largely on the latest spoiler/side vent/continental wheel/mag wheels rather than intrinsic improvements mechanically or functionally. In short one branch of car buyers have spoken with their wallets. That is the Tesla buyers– who have out-grown those appeals to our immature side. In short, they;re saying “we put on our Big Boy pants.”