German Car Zone

'More from Mercedes-Benz on the Silverflow -- one of the standout designs we recently encountered as part of our coverage of the Los Angeles Design Challenge, a conceptual showcase of "blue-sky" designs from eight studios entitled "Robocar 2057" that's currently being held as part of the 2007 L.A. Auto Show. With a brief to explore the possibilities of transport in 50 years time, Mercedes-Benz has presented a vision of a sleek, shape-changing vehicle that could adapt to the users needs in various scenarios, transforming from highway cruiser to compact city car or economical two-seater at the push of a button.
The futuristic Silverflow vision comes from the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center of North America in Irvine, California, which is headed by Gorden Wagener. On the surface, the design itself is reminiscent of Grand Prix cars from the 1930s with its drawn out shell and exposed wheels, but the study relies on some thought-provoking "technology of the future" to present its ideas. The shape-changing characteristics would be based on the use of billions of microscopically tiny metallic particles that could be adapted by magnetic fields to form different, yet stable configurations. The potentially limitless variants would be pre-programmed allowing the car to be morphed within a few seconds -- parking would become far easier in a car that can make itself smaller, or even be completely dissembled into a pool of ferromagnetic material, and dents could be self-repaired using such a system...'.



Hehehe. There was such a long discussion on design, couldn't resist. so Rob, what dyu think, good or bad design?

That's just a concept and is most likely the work of a design student. Nothing that will act as a guideline or as a showcase for what MB will offer in the near future.

Sounds exciting. The example above looks interesting. ^You are probably right Lu.

For me, good design is driven by principles; the functional aspects of an object (product) are usually the most important consideration (but not always), I am always interested to know the ideology and methodology behind any interesting idea.

Designs 50 year out is just scifi! Remember all those flying cars that were predicted to be flying now. And that was what? 25 years ago?

That's not the future of anything.

That is so true Raman.

It is so funny how these "cars of the future" always fit with the styling trends and social/technological concerns of the present.

Ford "Nucleon" ....even the name couldn't be more 1950s


Maybe I should start a thread on vintage concept cars -- some of them are really interesting.

Please do that, Robert!