Mercedes->ke187 just turned 125 years old recently – hard to believe they’ve been around that long – and in a celebration befitting their status as one of the pre-eminent automakers in the world, the German company decided it was time to reveal the Aesthetics 125 sculpture.

Similar to the Aesthetics 2 sculpture that was unveiled at the just-concluded 2011 Detroit Auto Show, the Aesthetics 125 is more than just a fancy and shiny ivory sculpture. According to Mercedes, the Aesthetics 125 is actually a sample – a preview, shall we say – of the company’s future design language. The sculpture, in so many words, will be the inspiration of what the company’s future models are going to look like.

See what we meant by being more than just a fancy work of art?

The Aesthetics 125 was created using a new rapid-prototyping technology, which allows digital data to be directly transferred to a design object, thus making all the tech workings and application in fine layers work as seamlessly and as efficiently as possible.

The result is an amazing sculpture that points both to the company’s historical importance in the industry and it’s continued emphasis on breaking through new barriers in its continued pursuit of being one of the auto industry’s trailblazers.

This is who Mercedes-Benz is and if the Aesthetics 125 sculpture is any indication, this is who they’re going to continue to be.

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