Mercedes has unveiled a hypercar it thinks could be one of the world’s fastest EVs.
Outside Mercedes-Benz’s Research and Development North America Center in Carlsbad, California, near San Diego, earlier this week, the company had stationed an iconic 1950s-era 300SL Gullwing, as well as its outlandish G-Wagen-based Mercedes Project Mondo G “moon lander” interpretation with fashion brand Moncler. The R&D center is also a major design center, and Mercedes chose it as the place to unveil the Vision One-Eleven, a bright orange gull-wing-door electric concept car that the company hopes will set speed records like its namesake C-111 in the 1960s.
The C-111, a fiberglass GT that ran variously with Wankel rotary, turbo diesel, and V-8 power, was both an innovative design and a record setter in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But it was never put into production. The One-Eleven, although it’s far more outlandish than the C-111, could actually end up as a production hypercar. If so, it will be ultra-fast, and feature three or four of the super-thin electric motors from Yasa, the British company acquired by Mercedes-Benz in 2021. An original C-111, one of just 11 surviving (and also orange) from the 16 made, was also on hand.
The orange-and-white Vision One-Eleven is certainly a sight to behold. It’s very curvy and sits impossibly low, with spoilers and sculpted diffusers to ensure minimal lift at high speeds—though it’s too early to say exactly how high. The two passengers sit in a very stylish cabin with silver-finish seats with racing harnesses. A strapped-in handbag suggests the fitted luggage that cars such as the Gullwing carried. Those two elements alone suggest both luxury and performance.
“Our goal at Mercedes-Benz is not to do styling—our goal is to create icons,” said Gordon Wagener, the company’s design chief, at the event. “To me, that makes the difference between mainstream design and luxury. Design icons like the 300SL and C-111—both with gullwing doors—are part of our DNA. Design and technology belong together, more and more.”
The Yasa motors could be a major technological breakthrough, though they’re based on principles laid down by Michael Faraday in 1821. Axial-flux motors are used in CD drives but not currently in electric cars other than the Ferrari SF90 Stradale (a hybrid model), explains
Tim Woolmer,
Yasa’s founder. The motors, notably thinner than the standard radial-flux motors, promise higher torque and power density, with less weight and volume. A 250-horsepower motor could weigh only 52 pounds. In the near future, Woolmer says, the motors could be placed in the car’s wheel hubs—a goal for many automakers that has so far proven elusive in production. Yasa’s technology, which simplifies electric motor design, was spun off from Oxford University in 2009.
Markus Schäfer,
Mercedes-Benz’s chief technical officer, says that the Vision One-Eleven will be “chasing records,” just as the C-111 did. Collaboration with Yasa and the company’s Formula One team will make the victories happen, he says, adding that the car is both a showcase for a new powertrain and an aesthetic statement “proving to our customers that we’re pushing the limits.”
Schäfer also says that the sustainable (but expensive) gasoline known as e-fuel, which has Porsche as an investor, “is not for us at Mercedes.” The company has been talking to supercar manufacturers reliant on Mercedes power plants, including Aston Martin and Pagani, about the electric alternatives that will be necessary when Mercedes discontinues its big V-8 and V-12 engines, he says.
In other innovation news, starting Friday, Mercedes customers with the MBUX infotainment system will be able to have the Open AI ChatGPT system along for the ride, integrated with the “Hey Mercedes” voice assistant to answer destination questions. In a demonstration, it correctly gave interesting details about a wealthy New England town. With virtual reality, the company also showed how future navigation might work—with physical landmarks seen through the windows adorned with identifying messages, and direction arrows on the actual roads ahead.
In San Diego, Mercedes also showed the AMG version of its EQE SUV electric car. The two-motor variable all-wheel drive car offers up to 677 horsepower, as well as AMG air suspension and Benz’ nine-degrees of rear-axle steering that reduces the turning radius at speeds under 37 miles per hour.
The EQE SUV AMG appears to have a traditional radiator grille, but in fact it’s an AMG black panel with stamped vertical chrome struts. Mercedes emphasizes that the grille area might not be needed for cooling an internal-combustion engine, but it can be a “tech center” for cameras and sensors, and the embedded Mercedes logo can be illuminated—and pulsed when charging.
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