Mercedes Unimog Concept
Celebrating 60th anniversary of the mighty Unimog, Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks (MBS) is presenting a design concept based on the U 5000 with its outstanding off-road mobility.
Designed in collaboration with MBS development team, the Daimler commercial vehicle designers in Sindelfingen and a model designing partner, this awesome car is inspired by a frog! And like its ancestor from 1950s it has an open cabin.
The concept vehicle shows that even after 60 years – and including the 26 product ranges during this period – the Unimog is still able to renew itself. Just as its innovative power has left its mark on the Mercedes-Benz Unimog and driven it forward until the present day, the “Concept Design 60 Years Unimog” has shown impressively that a great deal of innovation is still possible in the engineering of future Unimog generations. This concept vehicle will no doubt surprise everyone who sees it, experts and enthusiasts, users and customers alike.
Here’s a quick design analysis for this magnificent vehicle that will never see production:
The design concept is based on the Unimog U 5000 chassis with its outstanding off-road capabilities. The traditional and well-known unique selling-point of the Unimog, its coil springs, are painted red in the concept vehicle, whereas Bertrand Janssen and his team have let its hulk of a bonnet with its typical Mercedes-Benz line and the mudguards shine out in a fresh green. When selecting the colours used, the designers in Bertrand Janssen’s team were inspired by an unusual amphibian, the poison dart frog: Just like the Unimog it is also extremely mobile both in water and on land. And furthermore in this point it is once more the link between past and future as green was the colour of the very first Unimog and numerous follow-up generations of the vehicle. The headlights are like stage lights, which focus the beam of light.
The clearly visible, sweeping lines of the frame have been finished with high-grade trims cut from aluminium blocks. The four same-size wheels make a strong optical impression with their five star alu-rim design. Bertrand Janssen emphasises, ” On no account did we work in an atmosphere where our ideas were divorced from reality. Here we have a vehicle which is puristic, but still clearly true to concept – with the claim, that some of its details will turn up in coming product ranges in future. We continued to take up the most important Unimog features which have characterised the vehicle for the last 60 years and which will also characterise it in future – features such as portal axles, coil springs or the frame concept.” The design concept “60 Years Unimog” is not however a prototype for a new product range.
But it becomes quite clear that the Mercedes-Benz Unimog will still continue to have an innovative character in future and will still possess a high degree of versatility in design and type of construction. It is after all a unique vehicle concept.
Michael Dietz, Head of Sales and Marketing Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks makes it clear. “During the last 60 years our Unimog has made a name for itself worldwide as an ambassador and image-carrier for the brand Mercedes-Benz. Whether working for numerous municipalities and contractors in Europe, under extreme conditions exploring for oil in the Taklamakan desert in China or for example as a motorhome “down under”, the design concept is a forward projection of these unique Unimog-DNA and is impressive proof of the innovative power of Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks.” Because of this, Yaris P?rs?n pays the whole team a compliment. “Each of them brought his own competence to the project to the best of his ability. From the very beginning there was a unique spirt of cooperation. It has been a very emotional project which we all became very attached to.” And in one very important point the design concept for the jubilee year 2011 and the very first Mercedes-Benz Unimog of the product range 2010 which rolled off the band on 3 Juni 1951 at the Gaggenau plant have something very obvious in common: Both vehicles are open – really genuine cabrios.
