FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Shape-shifting Mercedes-Benz debuts

Mercedes-Benz’s star of the Frankfurt motor show is a four-door coupe concept that can change shape to maximise its aerodynamic efficiency.

Dubbed Concept IAA, the vehicle is claimed to have a world-beating drag co-efficient of 0.19Cd. Currently the very best production cars are around the 0.22-0.24 mark.

IAA is a contraction of the official name of the Frankfurt Motor Show, however, in the case of the new Benz it stands for Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile.

The unique aspect of the new concept is its ability to change shape. Says Mercedes press blurb on the vehicle: “At the touch of a button, or automatically on reaching a speed of 80 km/h, the Mercedes-Benz Concept IAA performs a fascinating transformation in which the captivatingly beautiful four-door coupé turns into an aerodynamics world champion…”

The transformation sees eight segments extend at the rear to the car to increase its length by up to 390mm. Flaps extend the front bumper by 25mm and “Active Rims” alter the IAA’s wheel face profile from concave to flush. Other devices optimise wheel arch and underbody air flow.

Benz characterised the change as from “design” mode to “aerodynamic” mode.

Intended to introduce hints of the next Mercedes Benz design language, Concept IAA also features a touch and gesture-control ready interior and “provides an idea of what the interior of a business saloon might look like in the near future”.

Head of Mercedes-Benz R&D, Dr Thomas Weber says Concept IAA said: “Concept IAA applies intelligent innovations to resolve the conflicting aims of functionality and aesthetics and shows that we still have plenty of ideas on how to achieve further improvements in efficiency."

The car “exemplifies the fundamental technological changes which are taking place in the automobile industry”, said Mercedes.

Concept IAA was designed using the latest digital technology and virtual testing. It also pushes the technology envelope featuring ‘Car-to-X’ connectivity so as to be able to “communicate with other vehicles or other sources of information”.

Mercedes says this represents “a major advance in helping to avoid accidents, as obstacles or events which are not visible to the vehicle itself can be detected”.

Interior controls feature OFN (Optical Finger Navigation) buttons on the twin-spoke steering wheel and for other controls. These allow functions to be controlled by simply ‘hovering’ a finger near them.

Under the bonnet of Concept IAA is a petrol/electric plug-in hybrid drive with a total output of 205kW.

Mercedes-Benz claims an electronically limited top-speed of 250 km/h and an all-electric range of 66km in aero mode. Design mode trims that by 4km.

Full coverage from motoring.com.au at Frankfurt motor show here