First Sight: Mercedes Vision Simplex
By Guy Bird2019-11-21T12:43:00
To coincide with its newest Advanced Design studio opening in Nice, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a fun-filled concept called the Vision Simplex
To coincide with its newest Advanced Design studio opening in Nice on France’s Cote d’Azur, Mercedes-Benz also unveiled a fun-filled concept in its viewing yard called the Vision Simplex, in hommage to a game-changing car from the past.
The car it references is the 1901 35hp Mercedes, which dominated Race Week in Nice almost 120 years ago – another neat link to the new studio’s location – and according to Mercedes represented a pivotal moment in the development of vehicle design layout: “It is acknowledged as the first modern car. 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 integrated into the front, was the 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.”