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2005 Mercedes-Benz Bionic Car Concept

0-3-2006

by Trevor Hofmann


A Seafood Lover's Delight

Pretty? Well, maybe you'd find it attractive if you were a boxfish, the inspiration for Mercedes-Benz' Bionic Car, which was
Pretty? Well, maybe you'd find it attractive if you were a boxfish. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)
unveiled at the Washington Conference Center in Washington, DC as part of DaimlerChrysler's "Impact on America" symposium in May. I was there, saw it with my own two eyes, and can attest that it's about as attractive as AMC's Pacer, but stimulating a car enthusiast's visual senses was hardly the reason Mercedes-Benz put this one together.

But designing a car after a fish? Why not? Mercedes-Benz's DaimlerChrysler cousin Chrysler Group once offered a car within its now defunct Plymouth division inspired by and named after the Barracuda. American Motors Corporation (AMC), which was eventually purchased by Chrysler Group, offered sports coupe buyers the Marlin. And what about the legendary Corvette Stingray or Mako Shark concepts that preceded and followed it?

Yes, there has definitely been precedent for fish inspired automobiles, but the boxfish derived Bionic Car is different. Where the Barracuda may have included
The Bionic Car appears nearly identical to its muse, even in colour. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) 
gill-like fender slats, and the Stingray a sleek profile ending in a pointed tail similar to the graceful, yet menacing looking aquatic creature, the Bionic Car appears nearly identical to its muse, even in colour. And to be honest, it's not the prettiest of fish.

But that's neither here nor there, because while the Stingray may have been a gorgeous automotive design it wasn't particularly aerodynamic. That's the interesting reality modern-day aerodynamicists have discovered, that the sleek, elegant lines of early sports cars didn't necessarily cut through the wind with the same efficiency as the boxy sedans of the same era.


A good example of this is the mid '60s to early '70s Alfa Romeo Spiders, GTVs and Giulia Supers. The latter car was about as boxy
The Bionic Car features a unique teardrop shape, pug-nosed up front, thick in the middle and canting inward towards the rear end, proven to deliver an amazingly low 0.17 coefficient of drag. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) 
as anything up to that point. I had a friend who owned a white one and we nicknamed it the fridge. You might remember it from the original Michael Caine film, The Italian Job, in which the little Alfa sedans were the blue and white police cars attempting to catch the zippy little Minis on their way out of Turin. The little box turns out to be much slipperier through the air than the sleek Italian convertible, made famous in another classic film, The Graduate, and yet again more efficient than the beautiful GTV coupe.

Back to the Bionic Car, its unique teardrop shape, pug-nosed up front, thick in the middle and canting inward towards the rear end, has proven to deliver amazingly low wind resistance: its mere 0.17 coefficient of drag would make it the most aerodynamic vehicle on the street if produced today.

The
Ironically, Mercedes has given the Bionic Car a helicopter-like wrap-over windshield, which looks extremely interesting as it darts to a point atop the car's roof. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) 
most wind-cheating car currently available in production trim is Honda's rather awkward looking Insight hybrid. With a Cd of 0.25, it is quite a bit more resistant than the Bionic Car, although the Honda's Citroen DS21-like rear fender skirts also resemble those on the new Mercedes concept.

Interestingly, if you're into such things, the fish car is also shaped a little bit like a Bell 204 / 205 H-1 Iroquois helicopter, otherwise known as the 'Huey', but not so much as the boxfish itself. The car doesn't include the fish and helicopter's tail section, but its nose and fuselage is uncannily similar in shape to both.

Ironically, Mercedes has given the Bionic Car a helicopter-like wrap-over windshield, which looks extremely interesting as it darts to a point atop the car's roof, but in reality, combined with two additional strips of glass that extended to the rear of the car, butting up to a wrap-over glass rear liftgate, it caused an almost unbearable greenhouse effect to those inside the cabin.


That cabin was a strange place to sit inside, something I was able to do while going for a short test drive in the parking lot of
The Bionic Car doesn't have any side-view mirrors, but nstead tiny cameras project rearward images onto two monitors integrated into the cabin's roof at eye level. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) 
Washington, DC's FedEX Field. Why strange? Well, for one, there aren't any side-view mirrors. Instead, tiny cameras are positioned within the exterior of the A-pillars facing rearward, reducing drag and offering a clear view of the road behind from two monitors integrated into the cabin's roof at eye level, where the tops of the A-pillars meet the side window glass. While this isn't anything particularly new for a concept, Acura's TL prototype introduced at the 2003 Detroit auto show featured a similar system, for one, its an expensive but effective method for improving aerodynamics.

Another oddity was the inclusion of a clear rubberized mesh that covered the
When the engineer driving the car asked what I thought of the rubberized mesh idea, I told him what I'll tell you, it's an impractical dust and grime collector. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)  
armrests, front and back. When the engineer driving the car asked what I thought of this idea, I told him what I'll tell you, it's an impractical dust and grime collector. He seemed to grunt in agreement, signaling that sometimes engineers and designers don't see eye to eye.

I have to admit that both front and rear seats were accommodating, delivering up tons of headroom and adequate leg, hip and shoulder room, while the cargo bay in the rear looked to be ideal for packing in a decent sized load.

But I suppose the practicality of a car that will never be produced is a moot point. What matters more is the bionic technology that gives the car its name, and potentially how this may be used to improve the vehicles we drive everyday.


And just what is bionic technology? Well, my first thought on the subject had me harking way back to the '70s when Lee
Mercedes-Benz actually developed a Darwinian-like series of five body models that chart the automakers progression from boxfish to Bionic Car to aluminum space frame. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)  
Majors played Steve Austin in the Six Million Dollar Man, a half-man, half mechanical do-gooder, but this couldn't be what Mercedes was talking about, as there's no human element in this all-mechanical vehicle. So what is it?

Simply put, it's "the science concerned with the application of data about the functioning of biological systems to the solution of engineering problems," or at least that's what Mirriam-Websters Unabridged Online has to say about it. So basically, if a fish, dog or chimpanzee inspires your car, then you're applying the science of bionics, and in effect have a bionic car.

But unlike Plymouth's Barracuda or Chevy's Stingray, Mercedes-Benz actually developed a Darwinian-like series of five body models that chart the automakers progression from boxfish to Bionic Car to aluminum space frame, similar to the drawing of ape transforming into man made up by the controversial scientist for introducing his theory of evolution. Of course, there was that equally controversial statement made by Lady Hope about a deathbed admission contradicting his entire theory, but none
The entire Bionic Car structure is ultra-lightweight, and extremely strong, ideally suited for efficient transportation. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)  
of this has anything to do with bionics or the cool little models Mercedes-Benz created to prove its "theories" of aerodynamics.

The proof of Mercedes' theories, however, is in the wind tunnel test results, that cool 0.17 coefficient of drag I mentioned previously. But there's more, much more about the Bionic Car than just its slippery shape. Underneath the 4.24-metre long monobox skin, which incidentally is formed by connecting hexagonal "bony plates" together for an extremely strong structure despite an overall light weight, and reportedly act to protect the car from potential impact (also backed up by six airbags just in case) just as the real-life plates protect the Boxfish from injury, is a very strong aluminum backbone, known more commonly as a spaceframe. The entire structure is ultra-lightweight, and extremely strong, ideally suited for efficient transportation.


And Mercedes-Benz understands how to be efficient when it comes to cars, having been one of the world's most ardent promoters of diesel power since Rudolf (not the reindeer kids) invented the oil burner. Yes, you're not alone. I first thought something as wacky looking as the Bionic Car would no doubt f
The prototype's 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel makes 138-hp and 121.3 lb-ft of torque, for an impressive 8.2 second sprint to 100 km/h and 2.8 L/100 km highway fuel consumption rating. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)  
eature hydrogen fuel cell technology or at the very least a next-generation hybrid drivetrain, but no, instead under its guppy-like belly is a very special 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel sporting 138-horsepower (1991 cubic centimetres or 121.49 cubic inches) at 4,200 rpm and 221.3 lb-ft of torque at 1,600 rpm, with an extremely high compression ratio of 18:1, and incorporating Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), a process where a gaseous or liquid reductant (most commonly ammonia or urea) is added to the flue gas stream and is absorbed onto a Zeolite or Vanadium based catalyst before the reductant reacts with NOx in the flue gas to form H2O and N2. Basically, SCR reduces emissions dramatically over conventional diesels.

How clean is it? Well, that information was hard to get, but if a engine's environmental cleanliness is directly related to how efficient it is, which we know is true, how does 4.3 L/100 km strike you? Not bad. Isn't that similar to blue-sky EPA ratings for hybrids, like Toyota's Prius, Honda's Civic and that odd little Insight I mentioned before? True. Their ratings are 4.0 / 4.2, 4.7 / 4.3 and 3.9 / 3.3 L/100 km city / highway, respectively. But wait, the figure used for the Bionic Car is for city driving. It's much stingier with the smelly stuff when driven at a constant 90 km/h, needing only 2.8 litres for every 100 km.

What's more, compared to the Insight, which will take you 11.0 seconds to pass
The Bionic car is shorter than Toyota's Prius, but wider and taller. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)
by 100 km/h, and the nearly as efficient but much more useful Prius at 10.6 seconds to 100 km/h, the Bionic Car manages it in only 8.2 seconds, topping out at a very impressive 185 km/h (115 mph). Not bad, but then again it isn't officially federalized for crash safety in North America, or anywhere else for that matter, and doesn't feature all the niceties (like air conditioning, despite having a very slick looking automatic climate control interface integrated into its dash) that the Prius does, at least. Then again, its curb weight, at 1,265 kg (2,789 pounds), isn't that far off the 1,310 kg (2,888 lb) Prius, and it's a heck of a lot heavier than the bantam-weight Insight.


In case you were wondering, the Bionic Car reaches 4,250 mm (167.3 inches) from end to end, 1,820 mm (71.7 inches) from side to
Odd yes, but the Bionic Car's SCR technology is at least on its way to becoming mainstream, having already been incorporated into commercial vehicle fleets. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)
side, 1,600 mm (63.0 inches) from the base of its tires to the tip of its antenna, and features a wheelbase that spans some 2,570 mm (101.2 inches). That makes it 195 mm (7.7 inches) shorter than the Prius, but on the other hand 95 mm (3.7 inches) wider, while its also 110 mm (4.3 inches) taller. As expected when comparing overall lengths, it rides upon a 130 mm (5.1 inches) shorter wheelbase, but passenger volume, rated at 4,220 litres (149.0 cubic-feet), certainly didn't seem to hurt once inside, probably due to its substantial gains in width and height.
   
Still, the Bionic Car isn't about to go up against the Prius on the open market anytime soon. Rather, the diesel engine and its SCR technology is, so far, the most useful component of the
The Bionic Car, from a design and engineering standpoint, is stretching the boundaries of our imaginations. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)
project, being that it is already being incorporated into commercial vehicle fleets. We may, mind you, see some of its other technologies - say the unique scale-like body shell - show up as part of future M-B models.

The Bionic Car, from a design and engineering standpoint, does stretch the boundaries of our imaginations, however, which makes it a very significant vehicle in its own right, and critical as a muse for inspiring future Mercedes-Benz project cars as well as spurring on rival automakers to reach beyond preconceived notions, to rethink transportation in a new less inhibited fashion. And for this, we owe the tiny little Boxfish our sincerest gratitude.


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