2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Gets All Up In Bentley's Business With Trendsetting Techno
04-02-13, 04:57 AM
#1
2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Gets All Up In Bentley's Business With Trendsetting Techno
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewd...ng-technology/
Cameras and cell phones go on a table under watchful eye. Names get checked off a list.
Through a darkened archway flanked by stern looking security personnel are three 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans. The front and rear of each car are hidden with black plastic and tape. The room is pitch black. Only a few journalists are allowed in at a time.
We’re in Stuttgart, Germany, getting a run-down of the technology inside Mercedes’ new flagship sedan, set to debut May 15 in Hamburg. Engineers and designers eagerly watch as we test out plush seat recliners, back massagers and high-end audio systems—all of which seem taken straight from a multimillion-dollar mansion.
The fact that Mercedes has orchestrated an international press event just to show off the interior of the 2014 S-Class says a lot. First of all, the company has absolutely stuffed this car with enough gadgetry to fill a 77-page press kit and wants a captive audience to demonstrate some of it. But more importantly, amid an unprecedented flurry of vehicle launches—30 new Mercedes models in the United State in the next seven years—this one is special.
The S-Class is a showcase for Mercedes innovation. Technology that debuts on this sedan is trendsetting, not just for the company, but the entire industry.
Mercedes says the 1959 220S was the first passenger car in the world to feature a dedicated crash structure around the cabin, replete with crumple zones. The 1978 S-Class was the first passenger vehicle in the world to get antilock brakes. The 1981 S-Class pioneered airbags. All of this technology is now required for every passenger vehicle sold in the United States. The list goes on.
But the mark Mercedes hopes to make with the 2014 S-Class has less to do with safety and more to do with comfort and luxury. It has long been possible to load an S-Class with so many options that it pushes into the six-figure price range of a Bentley Continental Flying Spur. But sitting in both cars made it clear the Bentley was at another level of design, quality and comfort.
With the 2014 S-Class, Mercedes-Benz narrows that gap. The interior design alone is a big improvement. Panels blend together seamlessly where once they appeared as distinct pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. The center armrest between the front seats, which swings open to reveal a storage bin, is one smooth piece of leather devoid of unsightly shut lines. On the current S-Class, the small, domed palm support for the large control **** just ahead of the center armrest flips open on exposed hinges to expose a keypad. Now this palm support just slides gently out of the way, disappearing into the console. There are no hinges and the only seams on it are the double-stitched ones added for aesthetics.
Bentleys have always shown this level of sophistication in the details. But Mercedes haven’t, necessarily.
In some respects, the 2014 S-Class even surpasses what Bentley offers, as with its high-tech instrument panel and a new user interface that took more than 300 programers several years to develop. Two massive flat screens positioned side by side blend together as if one and span half the dashboard. The section in front of the driver replaces traditional instrumentation with digital gauges for the speedometer and other readouts.
The steering wheel has a retro two-spoke design that is distinctive. Mood lighting is everywhere, iridescent strands snaking around the dashboard and doors, in the ceiling, on the center console, even behind the two massive display screens, making it appear as if to float. (To see the S-Class interior up close, go to this slideshow.)
All of this was done to imbue a sense of quality and luxury, something people can’t always pinpoint, but know it when they see and feel it, says Dr. Goetz Renner, head of Mercedes’ customer research center, which is dedicated to deconstructing human behavior as relates to cars. “What is luxury? What is comfort?” he asks rhetorically during a presentation at the S-Class event in Stuttgart. The answer to that is as complicated as human behavior. But current trends dictate that today, luxury is comfort.
“Comfort is becoming more and more sexy,” says Renner, who has a Ph.D. in experimental psychology and speaks in the soft, soothing tones of a therapist. This is particularly true as the automobile becomes a third living space in which people increasingly spend more time between home and the office.
So, Mercedes’ goal with the new S-Class is to create a car that doesn’t just coddle occupants in a luxurious environment, but actively relaxes them through a concept called “energizing comfort.”
The fundamentals of this principal have been part of luxury cars since the beginning: to reduce irritating noises, vibrations and other grating stimulus that cause physical and mental fatigue. The current S-Class already does this so well that much of the focus on insulating the new S-Class’ cabin from unwanted sound and vibrations had to do with simply creating lighter materials to save weight.
Where the 2014 Mercedes S-Class really breaks new ground is in how it actively pampers occupants. New heated and cooled seats have 14 separately actuated air cushions in the backrest that simulate a shiatsu massage and hot stone treatment.
Just trying it for a few minutes makes clear Mercedes is onto something. Compared to the massage seats in recent Bentleys, Jaguars and even the previous Mercedes S-Class, these are much better. The pulsations really feel like a human hand is applying pressure.
There are six programs, two with heating function. The one I tried alternated pressure points up and down either side of the spine.
Another new feature is heated armrests, both on the doors and the center console. This might seem superfluous, but there’s a good chance it will join the heated steering wheel—a feature I once dismissed but now appreciate—as the next must-have in luxury cars.
One of the most curious additions to the S-Class is a fragrance dispenser. It’s located in the glove box and sends a waft of perfume into the cabin through vents in the dashboard. It works for five minutes at a time, with a five-minute pause in between, because the nose gets accustomed to smells after a while.
Mercedes worked with fragrance supplier Symrise to come up with five different scents that range from unobtrusive, like the one called Freeside, which comes standard, to polarizing. The scent called Nightlife smells of a club, thick with cologne.
Freeside was my favorite. It smelled like an Ayurvedic spa, with hints of tea tree oil and rosemary. “It’s lively for me; lively like a tree in spring, when the leaves are growing,” says Sabine Englehardt, a researcher in Mercedes’ society and technology research group, who worked with Symrise to create the scents for the new S-Class.
In Pictures: 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class
But what smells good to one person might smell terrible to another. It all has to do with the emotions we associate with scents. “The nose is connected to a very old part of the brain, which is connected to emotion and memory,” Englehardt says. That’s why there are five fragrance choices.
The idea of adding fragrance to the 2014 S-Class was to create another dimension to the emotional experience of being inside a Mercedes. The feature is part of an Air-Balance package, which also enhances air filtration in the cabin.
The “active perfuming system” in the 2014 Mercedes S-Class must be turned on manually. It atomizes the fragrance that gets dispensed into the air, rather than just spraying it. That way the scent doesn’t cling to interior surfaces and won’t permanently affect the smell of the cabin. One fragrance canister lasts about a year.
The most pampering place to be in the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is in the rear seat. And that is where Mercedes has truly made strides relative to established ultra-luxury players like Bentley.
This is the first S-Class sedan developed from the ground up as a stretched model. Normally, a standard version gets made first and then lengthened to create another variant with a limo-like rear seating area. With the 2014 S-Class, it was the opposite.
Part of the reason for such an emphasis is due to an increasing focus on growing sales in Asia, where people of means are almost always chauffeured and rarely drive themselves.
The stretched version of the 2014 Mercedes S-Class offers five options for well-heeled passengers riding in the back. An “Executive” package allows the backrest to recline more than 43 degrees and supports your legs, like a recliner. Mercedes even designed special seatbelts with airbags in them and cushions that pop up under occupants’ thighs to keep them in place during a crash while reclined.
Upgrade to the “First Class Rear” package and you can get a center console between the back seats that includes fold-out tables and heated and cooled cupholders. You’ll want to add the “Rear Seat Comfort” package too, for the hot-stone massage function.
All together there are more than 100 actuators and electric motors inside the new S-Class. And the electronics are just as dazzling. They run on the latest Intel Atom processor and a 200 gigabyte hard drive. What’s more, most of the car’s comfort and convenience features can be controlled through a paired smartphone—multiple ones, actually, and at the same time.
So for example, when the rear-seat technology package is chosen, which includes a flat screen for each outboard occupant, someone in the backseat can pair a smartphone to the system and control most of its functions. Or they can use an included touchscreen device located in the center console.
Designers drew inspiration from cell phones and high-end electric shavers for the perforated Burmester speaker grille in the door, seen to the right. Buttons to control the seating position are patterned after the Eames lounge chair. (Credit: Mercedes)
Previously, the driver had to designate certain functions no matter what, but now anyone can watch programming, surf the web or even track the travel trajectory on the GPS independently of what others might be doing on their respective screens. This is a breakthrough that hasn’t been done before on any Mercedes.
The final building block to the 2014 Mercedes S-Class’ new level of luxury is the audio system. There are two optional surround-sound systems made by the German company Burmester, which specializes in home and studio hi-fi systems costing tens of thousands of dollars.
The top “3D Surround Sound” version cranks out 1,540 watts through 24 speakers. I struggle to recall a better sounding audio system in a car.
Using the 3D function, which seeks to envelope the listener by making it seem as if the instruments playing and voices singing are coming from different physical locations, sounds over-processed. But the stereo’s normal mode produces sound so amazingly life-like it puts you in the moment of a recording, be it in the studio or at a live venue.
The woodwinds of Domenico Scarlatti’s Carpicco Fugato come to life as if in the car with us. I can hear the bass player’s fingers strumming strings on Cyrill Lutzelshwab’s Boxenkiller track.
I lean back, recline the chair and turn on the heated massager. My head sinks into a leather-covered, soft pillow strapped to the headrest. I don’t want the demo to end. This must be exactly what Mercedes means by “energizing comfort.”
Cameras and cell phones go on a table under watchful eye. Names get checked off a list.
Through a darkened archway flanked by stern looking security personnel are three 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans. The front and rear of each car are hidden with black plastic and tape. The room is pitch black. Only a few journalists are allowed in at a time.
We’re in Stuttgart, Germany, getting a run-down of the technology inside Mercedes’ new flagship sedan, set to debut May 15 in Hamburg. Engineers and designers eagerly watch as we test out plush seat recliners, back massagers and high-end audio systems—all of which seem taken straight from a multimillion-dollar mansion.
The fact that Mercedes has orchestrated an international press event just to show off the interior of the 2014 S-Class says a lot. First of all, the company has absolutely stuffed this car with enough gadgetry to fill a 77-page press kit and wants a captive audience to demonstrate some of it. But more importantly, amid an unprecedented flurry of vehicle launches—30 new Mercedes models in the United State in the next seven years—this one is special.
The S-Class is a showcase for Mercedes innovation. Technology that debuts on this sedan is trendsetting, not just for the company, but the entire industry.
Mercedes says the 1959 220S was the first passenger car in the world to feature a dedicated crash structure around the cabin, replete with crumple zones. The 1978 S-Class was the first passenger vehicle in the world to get antilock brakes. The 1981 S-Class pioneered airbags. All of this technology is now required for every passenger vehicle sold in the United States. The list goes on.
But the mark Mercedes hopes to make with the 2014 S-Class has less to do with safety and more to do with comfort and luxury. It has long been possible to load an S-Class with so many options that it pushes into the six-figure price range of a Bentley Continental Flying Spur. But sitting in both cars made it clear the Bentley was at another level of design, quality and comfort.
With the 2014 S-Class, Mercedes-Benz narrows that gap. The interior design alone is a big improvement. Panels blend together seamlessly where once they appeared as distinct pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. The center armrest between the front seats, which swings open to reveal a storage bin, is one smooth piece of leather devoid of unsightly shut lines. On the current S-Class, the small, domed palm support for the large control **** just ahead of the center armrest flips open on exposed hinges to expose a keypad. Now this palm support just slides gently out of the way, disappearing into the console. There are no hinges and the only seams on it are the double-stitched ones added for aesthetics.
Bentleys have always shown this level of sophistication in the details. But Mercedes haven’t, necessarily.
In some respects, the 2014 S-Class even surpasses what Bentley offers, as with its high-tech instrument panel and a new user interface that took more than 300 programers several years to develop. Two massive flat screens positioned side by side blend together as if one and span half the dashboard. The section in front of the driver replaces traditional instrumentation with digital gauges for the speedometer and other readouts.
The steering wheel has a retro two-spoke design that is distinctive. Mood lighting is everywhere, iridescent strands snaking around the dashboard and doors, in the ceiling, on the center console, even behind the two massive display screens, making it appear as if to float. (To see the S-Class interior up close, go to this slideshow.)
All of this was done to imbue a sense of quality and luxury, something people can’t always pinpoint, but know it when they see and feel it, says Dr. Goetz Renner, head of Mercedes’ customer research center, which is dedicated to deconstructing human behavior as relates to cars. “What is luxury? What is comfort?” he asks rhetorically during a presentation at the S-Class event in Stuttgart. The answer to that is as complicated as human behavior. But current trends dictate that today, luxury is comfort.
“Comfort is becoming more and more sexy,” says Renner, who has a Ph.D. in experimental psychology and speaks in the soft, soothing tones of a therapist. This is particularly true as the automobile becomes a third living space in which people increasingly spend more time between home and the office.
So, Mercedes’ goal with the new S-Class is to create a car that doesn’t just coddle occupants in a luxurious environment, but actively relaxes them through a concept called “energizing comfort.”
The fundamentals of this principal have been part of luxury cars since the beginning: to reduce irritating noises, vibrations and other grating stimulus that cause physical and mental fatigue. The current S-Class already does this so well that much of the focus on insulating the new S-Class’ cabin from unwanted sound and vibrations had to do with simply creating lighter materials to save weight.
Where the 2014 Mercedes S-Class really breaks new ground is in how it actively pampers occupants. New heated and cooled seats have 14 separately actuated air cushions in the backrest that simulate a shiatsu massage and hot stone treatment.
Just trying it for a few minutes makes clear Mercedes is onto something. Compared to the massage seats in recent Bentleys, Jaguars and even the previous Mercedes S-Class, these are much better. The pulsations really feel like a human hand is applying pressure.
There are six programs, two with heating function. The one I tried alternated pressure points up and down either side of the spine.
Another new feature is heated armrests, both on the doors and the center console. This might seem superfluous, but there’s a good chance it will join the heated steering wheel—a feature I once dismissed but now appreciate—as the next must-have in luxury cars.
One of the most curious additions to the S-Class is a fragrance dispenser. It’s located in the glove box and sends a waft of perfume into the cabin through vents in the dashboard. It works for five minutes at a time, with a five-minute pause in between, because the nose gets accustomed to smells after a while.
Mercedes worked with fragrance supplier Symrise to come up with five different scents that range from unobtrusive, like the one called Freeside, which comes standard, to polarizing. The scent called Nightlife smells of a club, thick with cologne.
Freeside was my favorite. It smelled like an Ayurvedic spa, with hints of tea tree oil and rosemary. “It’s lively for me; lively like a tree in spring, when the leaves are growing,” says Sabine Englehardt, a researcher in Mercedes’ society and technology research group, who worked with Symrise to create the scents for the new S-Class.
In Pictures: 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class
But what smells good to one person might smell terrible to another. It all has to do with the emotions we associate with scents. “The nose is connected to a very old part of the brain, which is connected to emotion and memory,” Englehardt says. That’s why there are five fragrance choices.
The idea of adding fragrance to the 2014 S-Class was to create another dimension to the emotional experience of being inside a Mercedes. The feature is part of an Air-Balance package, which also enhances air filtration in the cabin.
The “active perfuming system” in the 2014 Mercedes S-Class must be turned on manually. It atomizes the fragrance that gets dispensed into the air, rather than just spraying it. That way the scent doesn’t cling to interior surfaces and won’t permanently affect the smell of the cabin. One fragrance canister lasts about a year.
The most pampering place to be in the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is in the rear seat. And that is where Mercedes has truly made strides relative to established ultra-luxury players like Bentley.
This is the first S-Class sedan developed from the ground up as a stretched model. Normally, a standard version gets made first and then lengthened to create another variant with a limo-like rear seating area. With the 2014 S-Class, it was the opposite.
Part of the reason for such an emphasis is due to an increasing focus on growing sales in Asia, where people of means are almost always chauffeured and rarely drive themselves.
The stretched version of the 2014 Mercedes S-Class offers five options for well-heeled passengers riding in the back. An “Executive” package allows the backrest to recline more than 43 degrees and supports your legs, like a recliner. Mercedes even designed special seatbelts with airbags in them and cushions that pop up under occupants’ thighs to keep them in place during a crash while reclined.
Upgrade to the “First Class Rear” package and you can get a center console between the back seats that includes fold-out tables and heated and cooled cupholders. You’ll want to add the “Rear Seat Comfort” package too, for the hot-stone massage function.
All together there are more than 100 actuators and electric motors inside the new S-Class. And the electronics are just as dazzling. They run on the latest Intel Atom processor and a 200 gigabyte hard drive. What’s more, most of the car’s comfort and convenience features can be controlled through a paired smartphone—multiple ones, actually, and at the same time.
So for example, when the rear-seat technology package is chosen, which includes a flat screen for each outboard occupant, someone in the backseat can pair a smartphone to the system and control most of its functions. Or they can use an included touchscreen device located in the center console.
Designers drew inspiration from cell phones and high-end electric shavers for the perforated Burmester speaker grille in the door, seen to the right. Buttons to control the seating position are patterned after the Eames lounge chair. (Credit: Mercedes)
Previously, the driver had to designate certain functions no matter what, but now anyone can watch programming, surf the web or even track the travel trajectory on the GPS independently of what others might be doing on their respective screens. This is a breakthrough that hasn’t been done before on any Mercedes.
The final building block to the 2014 Mercedes S-Class’ new level of luxury is the audio system. There are two optional surround-sound systems made by the German company Burmester, which specializes in home and studio hi-fi systems costing tens of thousands of dollars.
The top “3D Surround Sound” version cranks out 1,540 watts through 24 speakers. I struggle to recall a better sounding audio system in a car.
Using the 3D function, which seeks to envelope the listener by making it seem as if the instruments playing and voices singing are coming from different physical locations, sounds over-processed. But the stereo’s normal mode produces sound so amazingly life-like it puts you in the moment of a recording, be it in the studio or at a live venue.
The woodwinds of Domenico Scarlatti’s Carpicco Fugato come to life as if in the car with us. I can hear the bass player’s fingers strumming strings on Cyrill Lutzelshwab’s Boxenkiller track.
I lean back, recline the chair and turn on the heated massager. My head sinks into a leather-covered, soft pillow strapped to the headrest. I don’t want the demo to end. This must be exactly what Mercedes means by “energizing comfort.”
04-02-13, 01:18 PM
#2
Where the 2014 Mercedes S-Class really breaks new ground is in how it actively pampers occupants. New heated and cooled seats have 14 separately actuated air cushions in the backrest that simulate a shiatsu massage and hot stone treatment.
04-02-13, 06:22 PM
#6
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Heard from some journals that the fragrances are not too overpowering, which is a good thing.
But i wonder, are they just like the normal car air fresheners that one can buy at Autozone? Or is it a little more sophisticated/different? From the current press releases, it looks like it is nothing more than an air freshener that plugs in and hides inside the glove box.
Interesting idea though. Maybe in a few decades there will be a smell universally called "MB".
But i wonder, are they just like the normal car air fresheners that one can buy at Autozone? Or is it a little more sophisticated/different? From the current press releases, it looks like it is nothing more than an air freshener that plugs in and hides inside the glove box.
Interesting idea though. Maybe in a few decades there will be a smell universally called "MB".
04-02-13, 07:28 PM
#7
Lead Lap
Heard from some journals that the fragrances are not too overpowering, which is a good thing.
But i wonder, are they just like the normal car air fresheners that one can buy at Autozone? Or is it a little more sophisticated/different? From the current press releases, it looks like it is nothing more than an air freshener that plugs in and hides inside the glove box.
Interesting idea though. Maybe in a few decades there will be a smell universally called "MB".
But i wonder, are they just like the normal car air fresheners that one can buy at Autozone? Or is it a little more sophisticated/different? From the current press releases, it looks like it is nothing more than an air freshener that plugs in and hides inside the glove box.
Interesting idea though. Maybe in a few decades there will be a smell universally called "MB".
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04-02-13, 07:46 PM
#8
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Hmm. That reminds me of a febreeze commercial. Obviously though it shouldnt spritz perfume in 15 min intervals..... Should it?
Speaking of new car smell. I wonder if these scents will take away from the the new car smells that so many people like.
Speaking of new car smell. I wonder if these scents will take away from the the new car smells that so many people like.
04-03-13, 05:22 AM
#9
Burmester sound system.
“3D Surround Sound” version cranks out 1,540 watts through 24 speakers. I struggle to recall a better sounding audio system in a car.
New heated and cooled seats have 14 separately actuated air cushions in the backrest that simulate a shiatsu massage and hot stone treatment.
There are six programs, two with heating function. The one I tried alternated pressure points up and down either side of the spine.
Got to love the S Class.It's an amazing car.
“3D Surround Sound” version cranks out 1,540 watts through 24 speakers. I struggle to recall a better sounding audio system in a car.
New heated and cooled seats have 14 separately actuated air cushions in the backrest that simulate a shiatsu massage and hot stone treatment.
There are six programs, two with heating function. The one I tried alternated pressure points up and down either side of the spine.
Got to love the S Class.It's an amazing car.
04-03-13, 06:20 AM
#10
Lexus Champion
^^^
You raise an interesting point about Burmester
Reading on the reviews from those who have been inside the recent new Porsche cars (i.e. 991 Carrera, etc.) can attest to how amazing it is
You raise an interesting point about Burmester
Reading on the reviews from those who have been inside the recent new Porsche cars (i.e. 991 Carrera, etc.) can attest to how amazing it is
04-03-13, 08:46 AM
#12
Lexus Champion
LOL @ your rear passengers having a massage while you attempt go from standstill to 100 kph/62 mph in under 4 seconds
Mwahahahaha
04-03-13, 11:44 AM
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I think that would be rather painful...
Going from 0-60 will shove passengers into the backs of the sets. With the massage ***** pushing out to function, it is very likely your rear passengers will be impaled onto the shiatsu chairs.
So much for comfort. Lol
Going from 0-60 will shove passengers into the backs of the sets. With the massage ***** pushing out to function, it is very likely your rear passengers will be impaled onto the shiatsu chairs.
So much for comfort. Lol
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