Mercedes-Benz has rewarded its loyal Facebook followers with an early glimpse of its upcoming autonomous vehicle concept, or at least its arching roof, nearly a week before its official debut. That will take place during Daimler AG Chairman Dieter Zetsche’s keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show on January 5 in Las Vegas.
Mercedes-Benz 2015 CES Concept
Precious little of the car is actually visible (we tried unsuccessfully to lighten the image to reveal more), and it was posted with a caption that simply reads, “The future will be bolder than you’ve ever imagined. #mbCES”. So all that we know is that it’s quite egg-like, and we can see the side of the taillamps and a hint of a gaping mouth in front. While the designers seem to have taken a “one-box” approach, it is very nearly the utter antithesis of a box.
We have seen this car before covered in camo and festooned with seemingly fake fender extensions that made it look like an engorged goldfish. In that report, we correctly identified the car as a CES concept and not something that would debut at a traditional auto show. Given that Dr. Z’s speech will concentrate on autonomous vehicle technology, we fully expect that the CES concept will drive itself onto the stage. What we don’t know is whether the car is fully electric or powered by a hydrogen fuel cell; each are equally possible.
While we will suspend judgment on its styling until we’ve seen the whole thing, we will say that it’s rare that we meet a one-box design that we really like, though this and this and this come to mind. While this Benz doesn’t resemble those vans in any way, it will, however, unmistakably look like the future.
