1. Passenger car design: strategy and concept development
Mercedes-Benz Design creates and evolves vehicle designs from the architecture phase to the series production process. The Design remit also extends to creative development and the design of possible new model series and their variants for the Mercedes-Benz portfolio. Future mobility solutions and innovative showcars are also evolved from the initial design study to the prototype suitable for driving, in close consultation with the areas of Research and Development. In additional to actual vehicle design, the designers also carry out product design orders from exclusive premium manufacturers in areas such as transport, industrial design, lifestyle, and furniture under the Mercedes-Benz Style brand.
2. Passenger car design: control and management
All automobile design projects launched by Mercedes-Benz are centrally managed. The Design Center in Sindelfingen controls the design process throughout an automobile's entire life cycle in terms of quality, schedule management and cost control. The available know-how is deployed for the entire vehicle, comprising the exterior and interior, from the strategy phase through vehicle development and production up to the end of the series production phase. The designers are responsible for producing all design exhibits, from the clay model through 1:1 models to the mock-up and data control model, for creating all the data models required in the design process and for releasing all spline data for transfer to the tool process. The spline of a vehicle is the mathematically perfect geometric representation of the interior and exterior surfaces which are visible to the customer, taking into account all technical and aesthetic design requirements.
3. Passenger car design: exterior design
From A- to S-Class, from SLK to SLS, the designers develop the design of all passenger car series and are responsible for the exterior as well as user interface design and ergonomics. They apply themselves to the attendant projects throughout the entire development phase. The Design Center is also responsible for the design work which is necessary in the course of a model's life cycle, such as facelifts and modifications relating to change years.
4. Passenger car design: interior design
Beyond the traditional vehicle interior comprising seats, doors, roof liner, and dashboard with controls, the interior designers also design the graphics in the on-board computer, the menu structure, and the entire control logic. They require various specialists for the different tasks involved, such as product, graphic and software designers. Specialists for colour and trim create both the colours and the all material textures for the exterior and the interior of a car. From leather grains to metal structures and the gloss level of all surfaces every detail is accurately selected and adapted. Often distinct degrees of difference are deciding. Strategic strengthening of the interior area is necessary, as it has become much more complex in recent years and acquired greater importance.
5. Van and truck design
In the area of commercial vehicles, Mercedes-Benz designers develop the design of the Vito, Viano, Sprinter and Vario van series and the Accelo, Atego, Axor and Actros lines, along with the corresponding Unimog, Econic and S 2000 special-purpose vehicles. They carry out cross-brand and cross-range work in the Dodge (vans), Freightliner and Mitsubishi (trucks) programmes. The scope of design work covers the complete vehicle, comprising interior and exterior. The designers are concerned with the model series throughout the entire design process up to the start of production – from the initial design study through model selection and the decision on design freeze and release of the data control model to the coordination of design-specific measures and components.
The design procedure at Mercedes-Benz – ten steps to the finished automobile
The overall process from the initial drawing to final approval of the model takes around three years. Over this period a new Mercedes passes through a seemingly endless succession of development stages in which the designers work incrementally towards the final vehicle. The team slowly transforms initially competing design studies into the next generation of a Mercedes-Benz vehicle.
1. Drawing/rendering: As in the fashion world, the design process for an automobile always begins with a drawing, which may be produced by hand or on a computer. Ideas which previously only existed inside the designer's head become visible.
2. Digital/package: A virtual image of the new automobile is created on a computer. Proportions, dimensions and contours are simulated and checked for coherence and harmony.
3. 1:4 clay models: Not everything can be simulated on a computer. The next step thus entails producing clay models of every variant of a new automobile. Only then are the designers able to judge whether their designs also produce the desired effect in three dimensions.
4. Model selection: The final form of the new automobile is chosen from numerous variants. The exterior form of the future Mercedes-Benz model is decided at this point.
5. Cut model: The 1:4 clay model is scaled up to the vehicle's final dimensions. The first full-size "prototype" is produced.
6. 1:1 model: All the details of the new model are produced manually. A strikingly authentic model is created. All the characteristic features of the new car become apparent.
7. Interior sketches:The first step in the interior design process also involves producing drawings and renderings. The various equipment lines are created here – the interior in which the future driver is to feel at home. The leitmotif here is "perfect aesthetics" – a design approach committed to realising an attractive interior.
8. Colours & trims/control and display concepts:The materials and colours for the interior are chosen. The trim lines for the future automobile are defined from hundreds of fabric and leather samples and a quite endless spectrum of colours.
9. Interior clay model/interior data control model: The effects of all materials and colours are checked under "real conditions" on elaborately produced 1:1 interior models. Each material and colour is allocated a code and specified.
10. Model approval: Each design process concludes with approval of the model by the Board of Management. Following this approval, the new Mercedes-Benz is released for production.