ManuelCarrillo3

What do you think of the W222 being designed to look like a boat taking off in water? I thought boaty design was the domain of Lincoln and Cadillac in the '70s.

aypues

hahaha...I saw that in the video and couldn't believe it. Must have been a German to English mistranslation (or just unfortunate literal translation).

MercPlease

I don't get the part about him saying the W221 wheel arches were bad. I mean, they weren't the best, but MB insulting themselves seems a bit weird. Also the part about "other companies" doing two separate taillight pieces but MB does one... What about the CL?

K-A

One reason *I personally* lost faith in M-B design is because it seems like they hate everything they do these days, insulting previous models or worse- showing that by doing drastic facelifts you'd expect from cheaper car brands. They market these design gimmicks so heavily (like quad headlights and "Ponton" fender on the W212, or wheel arches on the W221, etc.) and then just a few years later, say how "bad" those ideas were (or show that through action). How can you trust that they know what they're doing when what you'd driving today may get dissed by the parent company in just a few years, whilst getting a drastic "about-face" makeover (like the E Class). Also, I've heard rumors that M-B's executives are unhappy with how the current SL turned out, have contempt towards the SLS because the "nostalgic design" was a "lost opportunity", dislike the ML and want to do a newly-characteristic "M-B About-Facelift", and of course weren't happy with the W212 hence the awkward reconstructive surgery, and make fun of their own W221 fender flares, etc.

Also, the "boat taking off in water" thing is verbatim what BMW were saying when they launched the F Series of design (stating that the cars are meant to look like vessels breaking through water, hence the hood curves), going very heavy with that analogy on the 6 Series namely.

LETO

That video is a bit odd. Although the whole yatch motif has been a big influence lately:

Rolls Royce did a teak decking on the phantom droptop if I am correct & audi has shown off a similar boat deck style wood when they launched the last A8

Quadcammer

Who cares, either you like the design or you don't.

Germancar1

Exactly. I have never seen so many pointless threads about nothing.

M

C280 Sport

Well the new 222 S Class looks beautiful to me!

marthyh

He said water-management several times lol ..

Love the W222 !!

David.w

I think you have to recognize the constraints contemporary designers are working with. They are not dealing with just styling anymore; they have to consider sensor design, camera placement, aerodynamics, and many other factors. I think I read they managed to reduce the weight by 250 lbs as well, while increasing horse power and torque. I am looking at the 2014 S class for a vehicle I will use for my best customers in my car service. I think it may prove to be the best sedan of it's era.