If the car industry has learned us anything so far it’s that carmakers like to play with concept vehicles but they’re also part work. More often than not, a concept car has led a car brand’s direction and approach for the years to come and we’re not only talking about design cues and whatnot, but also that brand’s vision of mobility.
In that context, we can’t ignore two of Mercedes-Benz’s most stunning concepts, the 2015 F 015 prototype and the more recent Vision AVTR, unveiled at the 2020 CES in Las Vegas. Both are about luxury first and foremost but also about a new avenue that might spur other carmakers to join the bandwagon: a reinterpreted interaction between human, machine, and nature.
Then we stumbled onto this unofficial design study, dubbed the Mercedes-Benz Vision Duet Concept.
Will the grand tourers of the future look like this?
In concocting the concept, Lujie was inspired by the 2017 Mercedes-Benz SL and its dimensions, but also by the exquisite design and smooth lines of a luxury boat. At the same time, the artist’s vision is that a hypothetical production version of the Vision Duet would slot somewhere between the SLK (currently known as the SLC) and the SL, thus mixing the open-air experience with luxury and a drop of performance.
The three-seat layout is peculiar enough, with two forward-facing rear seats and a rear-facing mini-sofa of sorts acting like the front seat. Lujie, however, really nailed it in the exterior design department, at least as far as we’re concerned.
The Vision Duet’s sleekness is on par with what you’d expect to come out from the brilliantly creative mind of Mercedes-Benz’s very own Gorden Wagener, for example. So, who knows, maybe Lujie is heading to a job within Stuttgart’s design department.
The Vision Duet would act as a strong resume, don’t you think?