When Mercedes-Benz chief designer Gorden Wagener sits down to start work on a new car he is careful to avoid one particular pitfall: schnickschnack. This delightful German phrase means something akin to excess baggage, unnecessary stuff, waffle. “Unlike our competitors we never put fancy lines on the car to be ‘progressive’,” he says making air quotes. “We don’t need that – it’s a Mercedes.”
Wagener, who’s been at Mercedes-Benz for a quarter of a century, is speaking at the world premiere of the all-new electric GLC at international motoring show IAA Mobility in Germany. Dressed in a white t-shirt, white trousers and gold trainers, the tanned Wagener looks more like a superstar DJ in Ibiza than a car designer in Munich.
After the reveal, as the world’s media discuss the SUV over pretzels and salami, one talking point keeps coming up: the grille. Lit by a wall of 942 LED panels, the grille on the electric GLC is an aluminium plate with a chrome frame and, according to Wagener, is “the most valuable piece of high tech that’s ever been put on an exterior of a car.” He sighs, “I go around the world and I see all these faceless cars with no identity. We needed to make a strong statement.”
Wagener took inspiration from walking along a hallway at Mercedes-Benz HQ in Stuttgart that has photographs of grilles from the last 100 years.
The idea for the grille on the electric GLC began one morning at 5am while Wagener was glamping in the Grand Canyon. His boss, Mercedes-Benz chairman Ola Källenius, called him from China to pick his brains about the design. “Like all good things, it came really fast, maybe three days,” explains Wagener who illustrates his point with a click of his fingers.
Källenius describes the grille as “friendly yet powerful, distinctive yet timeless,” before adding “it takes our rich heritage and translates it for the future. Unveiled at the historic Apothekenhof Residence in Munich, the new GLC is capable of more than 700km on a single charge.
The 39.1 inch infotainment screen is the largest ever installed in a Mercedes-Benz and offers 11 ambient modes to suit the driver’s mood, while a panoramic roof of stars can also be activated.
However, the message from Mercedes-Benz that accompanied the launch of the much-anticipated GLC steered away from tech, emphasised by the slogan ‘Welcome home’ that appeared everywhere at the Apothekenhof. “If there’s just one thing you remember about this car, it’s this: the GLC was engineered for humans,” says Källenius. “In an age obsessed with tech sensationalism we asked ourselves one simple and powerful question, what does the human want?”
One answer is rubber switches and roller controls, which have made a return as a result of demand from customers who felt overwhelmed by technology while driving and longed for an old fashioned touchpoint.
“Driving this car gives you a warm feeling,” smiles Källenius. His colleague Mathias Geisen, head of marketing, agrees, “It’s a beautiful piece of engineering excellence, but it’s also personal. When you open the door, you enter a familiar and safe place that feels like home.” Wagener admits technology has dominated motoring in recent years. “There’s a lot of tech and facts and figures in cars these days that even we don’t really understand,” he says candidly. “For customers, at some point it becomes hard to understand and experience all these features.”
AI receives a similar reaction from Wagener who seldom uses the tool in his work. “A human can do a better creation than AI,” he says before adding bluntly, “AI gives you a ton of solutions, but 99 per cent of them are crap.” Instead, he sticks to the core values of Mercedes-Benz, founded by two men, one of whom was emotional, one of whom was rational.
“Beauty and intelligence have always been rooted in the brand,” says Wagener. “I like beautiful things, I’m a true believer in beauty, but Germany is the land of poets and thinkers so we always have to have an intellectual side. Many other cars I consider to be rolling appliances that take you from A to B; buying one is a rational decision like buying a washing machine or a fridge. This is a Mercedes. Yes, it looks nice, but it also has meaning – because humans are about heart and brain.”