Movies, jackets and... fish? Here are 10 of Merc's most outlandish concept cars

Where better to start than with a Mercedes modelled… after a fish. Yep, the 2005 Bionic’s design was based on the yellow boxfish, due to the supposed low coefficient drag of the fish’s body shape. Tests proved that the Bionic had a drag coefficient of 0.19 – admittedly remarkably low for a car even by today’s standards – but even Mercedes may admittedly look back on this decision and realise… no one wants to buy a car that looks like a fish.

The Biome was a futuristic concept car built for the 2010 LA Motor Show Design Challenge, where the theme was to create a vehicle that would hold four passengers, but weigh just 1,000lb [454kg]. Stick with us here, because it gets a bit weird – the Biome was designed to be ‘grown’ using genetically modified seeds, run off BioNectar4534 fuel (created by harvesting the sun’s energy), emit oxygen only, and be fully compostable. Whimsical. 

Looking like something straight out of RoboCop, the Ener-G-Force followed the Biome a couple of years later at the 2012 LA Motor Show Design Challenge, with entrants tasked with designing a police car fit for the year 2025. It got small windows to provide a "safe cocoon for officers", emergency lights "that are impossible to ignore" and "gigantic wheels that guarantee the right of way even where no way exists". Still looks far-fetched today.

The 2018 EQ Silver Arrow played homage to Mercedes’ racing cars of yore, in particular the W125 Rekordwagen, which set a then speed record of 432.7km/h (268.9mph) over a kilometre in 1938. It got a similar streamlined shape, carbon fibre body and single-seat layout, but in place of the W12’s V12 underneath sat a 750bhp electric motor paired with an 80kWh battery, designed to whet the appetite for Merc’s EQ electric sub-brand.

Mercedes paid tribute to Virgil Abloh when it revealed this, the Project Maybach, back in 2021, an electric concept co-created by the fashion designer. Designed to be the ultimate luxury off-roader, it measured in at almost six metres long and looked the part thanks to its full roll cage, underbody protection, eight spotlights and chunky tyres. It was also fully electric and could recharge itself thanks to solar panels beneath the transparent bonnet.

Who doesn’t want a Mercedes-Benz G-Class wearing a giant puffer jacket? This curious collaboration between Mercedes and luxury fashion brand Moncler debuted at London Fashion Week in 2023 and was designated an “art piece” presented in “an imaginary universe with low gravity". Measuring in at 4.6m long, 2.8m high and 3.4m wide (that’s two and a half Range Rovers wide), it’s also the next best thing to bubble wrapping your car.

Another day, another Mercedes concept designed for the LA Motor Show Design Challenge, this time 2011, where the theme was Hollywood’s hottest new movie car. The Silver Lightning got a roof constructed of several small, lightweight magnetic squares, Mag-Tech technology that allowed it to form a hardtop or retract into a roadster, and omni-directional wheels which enabled it to steer freely in any direction. Anyone got Batman’s number?

Back in 2009 Mercedes slid into James Cameron’s DMs when it partnered up to create the Vision AVTR. Inspired by – you guessed it – Avatar, the Vision AVTR (short for Advanced Vehicle Transformation) drew inspiration from the world of Pandora. It got no straight edges, transparent doors and “bionic flaps” that allowed it to communicate with its surroundings, and it could crab walk courtesy of those spherical wheels.

With big plans to introduce a roadster to the compact car class, the Vision SLA was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in 2000. Based on the then A-Class, it measured just 3.77m in length, weighed under a tonne thanks to its aluminium and plastic body panels and carbon fibre seats, and mimicked the MX-5 with its tie down luggage straps. But people weren’t sold on the looks and once Merc realised the production costs, it made an abrupt U-turn.

The Vision Simplex was a 2019 concept that paid homage to the first ever car to wear the carmaker’s name – the Mercedes 35 PS from 1901. The first car to move away from the traditional high-riding motorised carriage to a flat vehicle with an engine installed low down in the frame and a radiator up front, the reimagining combined old and new including 21^st century aesthetics, an animated front end and an all-electric powertrain.