Mercedes-Benz Vision Simplex Concept, 2019. Presented by Mercedes-Benz Design at Design Essentials 2019, a concept that references the earliest origins of the brand.
“In spring 1901 the history of mobility changed radically. At Race Week in Nice a car the like of which the world had never seen appeared on the starting line: a high-performance car which Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft had developed at the suggestion of the visionary Emil Jellinek. The designs which were the norm back then were still closely related to motorised carriages. The Mercedes 35 PS, named after Jellinek’s daughter Mercedes, appeared with a completely new vehicle architecture and dominated the competitions in Race Week, which took place on the famous racetrack from Nice to La Turbie, right at the heart of what is now the Mercedes-Benz International Design Center Europe near Nice. The design is acknowledged as the first modern car and it heralded in a new era. Nearly 120 years ago the transformation, away from a high motorised carriage to a flat vehicle design with a light high-performance engine installed low down in the frame and a honeycomb radiator organically integrated into the front, was the pioneer of success and role model for all the cars that were to follow, whatever the brand. The vehicle layout presented for the first time over a century ago remains to this day the technical basis of all cars.”
