The Bionic Car project

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The result of this unique vehicle project is a compact car with two doors, four comfortable single seats, a panoramic windscreen, a glass roof and a large tailgate – 4.24 metres long, 1.82 metres wide and 1.59 metres high.

Naturally the exacting requirements with respect to practicality, everyday suitability and design made compromises compared with the 1:4 model necessary, but the concept car still retains outstanding aerodynamic characteristics: with a Cd value of 0.19 the fully-functioning and driveable Mercedes-Benz bionic car is among the aerodynamically most efficient in this size category.

In addition to the boxfish-like basic shape, this result is made possible by a number of other aerodynamic features, e.g.rear wheels which are almost completely shrouded with sheets of plastic, flush-fitted door handles and the use of cameras instead of exterior mirrors.

In the Mercedes study, the optimal aerodynamic properties derived from the boxfish and a new lightweight construction concept taken from nature create the conditions for excellent performance and fuel consumption.

Equipped with a 103 kW/140-hp direct-injection diesel engine, the concept car consumes 4.3 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres (combined), making it 20 percent more economical than a comparable standard-production model.

In accordance with the US measuring method (FTP 75) the range is around 70 miles per US gallon (combined), which is about 30 percent more than for a standard-production car.

At a constant speed of 90 km/h the EU fuel consumption falls to a mere 2.8 litres per 100 kilometres – corresponding to 84 mpg in the US test programme.

Nature’s construction principles

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