The awesome Mercedes-Benz F 700 Research Car

Advanced Design means giving shape to the future at Mercedes-Benz. Technically, every research car is a laboratory on wheels which, with new concepts, gives initial answers to the question of the further development of mobility.

Parallel to this, Advanced Design as part of the Design unit of the Mercedes Car Group pursues research into the styling of the future: What trends in technology and society will change our perceptions of the automobile in the next years and decades? What messages should cars send out through their design to the world around them in future? And with what stylistic devices can the design idiom of Mercedes-Benz be refined and supplemented? “The research cars might be called the free program of the Design unit. The impact of formal elements can be tested in them without having a direct bearing on a coming production vehicle,” says Professor Peter Pfeiffer, Senior Vice President Design, Mercedes Car Group.

But one aspiration always is the focus of attention: a research car should embody all brand values of a Mercedes-Benz. The preview of things to come always must be designed against the backdrop and with the awareness of being the most tradition-steeped automobile brand in the world. This applies to the F 700 even more so than to its predecessors in the line of research cars: the F 700 does, after all, represent classic core competencies of the brand Mercedes-Benz as a superior touring sedan – comfortable transportation in an unperturbed style especially over long distances, and at the same time a befitting and altogether status-conscious manner.

The exterior design: Inspired by nature

The F 700 is a futuristic interpretation of the classic sedan theme. It combines generous spaciousness and outstanding comfort with a claim to particular environmental friendliness and intelligent communication through the innovative control and display concept. In its design, inspirations from nature join together with consciously displayed technical innovations. Flowing, smooth surfaces and precise, tense lines merge into a harmonious overall shape – the embodiment of an automobile which is as efficient as it is luxurious.

The styling of the F 700 took shape in the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studio in Irvine, California. The basic form of the F 700 unmistakably is inspired by nature. As already had been practiced in the Mercedes-Benz bionic car, a 2005 concept car, ideas and construction principles from nature were adopted.

“Aqua Dynamic” is what the designers term this design idiom. As direct quote a “back fin” adorns the roof; it is used for antennas, the reversing camera and the third brake light.

The very first glimpse of the F 700 shows that an extraordinary amount of space has been given to the occupants here – technology takes a back seat as it were. The silhouette is dominated by the unusually long wheelbase: with overall length being 5.18 meters, the distance between axles attains the imposing length of 3.45 meters. For comparison: the overall length of the F 700 makes it shorter than the long-wheelbase version of the current S-Class, but the F 700 wheelbase exceeds that of the current model by impressive 28.5 centimeters. The front end is correspondingly short – the particularly compact DIESOTTO drive makes this possible.

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