- Mercedes has produced a wide range of concept vehicles exploring EV, bio-engineered and luxury off-road tech.
- Standout designs include the 2018 EQ Silver Arrow and the 2021 Project Maybach solar-charging off-roader.
- Concepts such as the 2010 Biome and 2009 Vision AVTR show Mercedes’ focus on sustainability and biomimicry.
Mercedes-Benz has never been one to colour inside the lines.
Across decades of auto shows and design contests, its concept cars have veered from visionary to downright bizarre, proof that even the most buttoned-up luxury brand has a mischievous streak.
So, in no particular order, here are ten of the most unhinged Merc ideas ever to (almost) hit the road.
Electric nostalgia trip: 2018 EQ Silver Arrow
This sleek single-seater was a love letter to the 1938 W125 Rekordwagen, which once hit 432.7 km/h on public roads. The EQ version swapped the screaming V12 for a 560kW electric motor and an 80kWh battery.
Wrapped in polished carbon fibre, it previewed Mercedes’ EQ sub-brand while proving that heritage and electrons can make surprisingly compatible bedfellows.
Bio-engineered daydream: 2010 Biome
Just when you thought it couldn’t get stranger, Mercedes “grew” a car.
The Biome concept for the LA Motor Show imagined vehicles sprouting from genetically modified seeds, powered by a made-up fuel called BioNectar4534.
Theoretically, it would absorb sunlight, emit only oxygen and compost itself at the end of its life. Mercedes described it as “whimsical.” That’s one way to say “never happening.”
Haute couture off-roader: 2021 Project Maybach
Co-created with the late fashion visionary Virgil Abloh, the Project Maybach was a near-six-metre electric leviathan that blurred the line between art and apocalypse prep.
Underbody armour? Check. Eight spotlights and solar panels under a transparent bonnet? Also check. Equal parts luxury and lunacy, it showed that opulence could, theoretically, survive the wilderness.
The tiny rebel: 2000 Vision SLA
Before the SLK and SLC, there was this: a pint-sized roadster built from A-Class bones.
The Vision SLA measured just 3.77m, weighed under a tonne and had carbon-fibre seats strapped down like camping gear. Despite decent ambition, it never left the concept stage - too costly, too quirky and perhaps too early for a baby Benz convertible.
The one that swam before it walked: 2005 Bionic
Picture a hatchback that looks like a yellow boxfish. That’s the Bionic, a wind-tunnel oddball whose slippery shape earned it a drag coefficient of just 0.19, impressively low even by 2025 standards.
The logic was that mimicking nature’s geometry might yield efficiency gains. The result was a fish-faced compact that proved aerodynamics and aesthetics don’t always get along.
The Pandora project: 2009 Vision AVTR
Years before “metaverse” became a buzzword, Mercedes partnered with James Cameron for an Avatar-inspired concept.
The Vision AVTR (Advanced Vehicle Transformation) ditched straight lines altogether, featuring translucent doors, “bionic flaps” that moved with the environment, and wheels that allowed crab-walking. It even pulsed with blue light as if it were alive, or at least cosplaying as such.
A bubble-wrapped G-Class: 2023 Project Mondo G
Fashion collided with function again when Mercedes and Moncler (yes, the puffer jacket brand) unveiled this swollen G-Wagen. Measuring 4.6m long but an absurd 3.4m wide, the Mondo G looked like it had spent the night in a down jacket factory.
Shown at London Fashion Week as an “art piece,” it floated through an imagined low-gravity world.
Cyber-cop fantasy: 2012 Ener-G-Force
Built for the same LA design challenge, this police cruiser from the year 2025 looked ready for RoboCop duty.
The Ener-G-Force concept had bunker-thick windows, emergency lights “impossible to ignore" and wheels so massive they “guarantee the right of way even where no way exists.” It was outlandish then and somehow still feels like overkill now.
Rolling movie prop: 2011 Silver Lightning
If Marvel's the Silver Surfer ordered a Mercedes, this would be it.
Created for Hollywood’s “hottest new movie car” challenge, the Silver Lightning featured a roof made of magnetic tiles that could morph from coupe to roadster and wheels capable of sliding sideways. It looked less like a car and more like CGI rendered in metal - which was sort of the point.
Back to where it all began: 2019 Vision Simplex
Finally, Mercedes went full circle.
The Vision Simplex reinterpreted the 1901 Mercedes 35 PS - widely regarded as the first true car - for the electric age. It fused turn-of-the-century proportions with digital displays and an animated “grille face".
Beneath the vintage silhouette lay a zero-emission powertrain, bridging 120 years of progress with one audacious wink.
Looking back
From bio-fuelled fantasies to fish-inspired failures, Mercedes’ concept history reads like a fever dream of design school what-ifs.
Most of these cars never made it past the show floor, and that’s exactly why they matter. They reveal a brand willing to push beyond elegance into absurdity, if only to remind us that imagination still has a seat in the driver’s cabin.
