Mercedes has revealed a wild new concept celebrating both an icon from the past while giving us a taste of what’s to come from its battery-powered sports cars in the future.
It’s known as the Vision One-Eleven, and it’s a retro-futuristic thing of beauty courtesy of Mercedes’ Design Centre in Carlsbad, California.
The styling package is a homage to the Mercedes C111 concept from the early ’70s, of which just 15 prototypes were ever created, complete with its oval front grille and two spotlights, massive black hood scoops and, of course, gullwing doors.
The concept comes powered by a pair of axial-flux electric motors from YASA – a British electric motor manufacturer owned by Daimler – which are said to offer 66 per cent more energy density than the radial-flux motors powering current Mercedes EVs.
This allowed Mercedes to position them super low in the One-Eleven, and will more than likely become the blueprint for future Mercedes and high-powered AMG flagship EVs.
Juice for the axial-flux electric motor is provided by a liquid-cooled battery with the same chemistry used in the current Mercedes Formula 1 team.
Inside, the One-Eleven sports a radical interior with a pixelated display spanning its way across the dashboard, an F1-inspired steering wheel, shiny seats and a mix of incredibly bright colourways in typical ‘60s and ’70s fashion.
