Mercedes is cooking up quite the presence at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, one that will be highlighted by the debut of the Aesthetics Progressive Luxury Concept. The streamlined prototype reveals little at this point, but the concept, which reportedly carries the in-house name, Electric Silver Arrow, is pegged as a halo model for the German automaker’s newly created EQ electric brand.

Mercedes-Benz has been rolling out some flamboyant concepts recently, but none has captured our attention like the Aesthetics Progressive Luxury. It’s got a weird name, sure, but its existence is interesting, specifically because of its connection to Mercedes’ new EQ electric brand.

The concept is said to be inspired by the automaker’s iconic streamlined cars that made headlines back in the 1930s for their breakneck speed. The Mercedes T125, in particular, set a world record in 1938 when it clocked in a flying mile average speed of 268.7 mph on the A5 Autobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt, Germany. If these classic speed demons are being used as inspirations for this concept, then it begs the question about what Mercedes is actually cooking up for its EQ electric brand.

Judging by its obtuse appearance — it really is just a sculpture of what looks to be a dramatic single-seater — the Aesthetics Progressive Luxury, or Electric Silver Arrow, as folks inside Merc call it, is unlikely to serve as a precursor to a future all-electric halo model under the EQ brand. History has shown that if concepts look too good to be true, they’re mostly created for the singular purpose of showcasing future design and powertrain possibilities. That’s what the Electric Silver Arrow looks like, though that shouldn’t take away from the importance of the concept, especially if it’s going to show a light into what we can expect out of the EQ brand.

If anything, the timing of the concept’s unveiling couldn’t have been more carefully planned. Mercedes plans to launch as many as 10 EQ models by 2022, beginning with the EQ C crossover next year. If the Electric Silver Arrow turns out to be the design showpiece of the electric brand, it stands to reason that a few of those 10 EQ models that Merc has under development will adopt design cues from the Pebble Beach-bound concept.

That could extend to the drivetrain these future EQ models will have. According to Ward’s Auto, the Electric Silver Arrow will also feature a new electric drivetrain that will supposedly surpass the capabilities of a Mercedes SLS E-Cell, a car that already produced 740 horsepower from four electric motors and a 60 kWh lithium-ion battery.

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is taking place in August. That gives us a month to speculate on what the Electric Silver Arrow is going to be about. That said, there’s a good chance that it’s going to blow us away.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2017 Mercedes Concept EQA.

Read our full speculative review on the 2019 Mercedes-Benz EQC.

Read more Mercedes-Benz news.