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LE KAP
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SUMMER 2015
LE KAP
Le Kap gets ‘one on one’ access to Daimler’s head of design, Gorden Wagener. Richard Webb journeys to Stuttgart to take up the story
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AUTOMOTIVE 00
inspired by this spirit, my visit to Sindelfingen was to make the link to the automotive portfolio of the future. After all, it’s here at Sindelfingen that they transform personal and cultural inspiration into visions of future mobility. Upon arrival, I soon discover security was tight, and I was asked to hand over my iPhone. Reluctantly, I surrendered it, as all hopes of scooping an amazing future Mercedes-Benz before anyone else seemed doomed. I’d met Daimler’s Head of Design, Gorden Wagener before, in Cape Town. Affable and charming, he encourages the creative heads of
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the Advanced Design Centre to have free-rein for their ideas here - where show cars, research vehicles, as well as product and design studies are created. It’s where decisions are made about the designs we will be seeing in 20 or 30 years.
The SL has been driven by Diana, Princess of Wales, a host of racing drivers, ‘A’-listers, pop singers, and rock guitarists, but shortly, the SL will be joined by an even more sporty and luxurious Mercedes convertible – the four-seat S-class Cabriolet.
In a world where so much is going on, a world in which our lives are determined by Internet and the media, Wagener believes we yearn for products with a design idiom that is restful to our eyes. He leads me into the bright open plan theatre where cars are previewed by the media when invited. It’s here where I first clap my eyes on the new S-Class Cabriolet, parked near to the 1955 300SL ‘Gullwing’.
To mark this, I travelled to Stuttgart, the home of Mercedes-Benz. It’s here where cars and culture – normally uncomfortable bedfellows - go together. For example, the Mercedes-Benz Museum is a must-see, with its stylish architecture and perfectly maintained collections. The city is encircled by rolling hills, some peppered with trees and houses, whilst others are intertwined with vines.
Next to that iconic car was another in the making. It was the reduced, clear lines of their new Cabriolet, based on the sublime S-Class Coupé. Its bionic metal shapes stretch tautly over the hightech features. It is both purist and expressive at the same time, and it takes me a minute to realise that my mouth is open, in awe of the sheer sensual presence of the car. >
f there were certain cars that you associate with fame and wealth, what would they be? Probably a Bentley Continental GT, or maybe Rolls-Royce Ghost II, or what about something more aggressive, like a Lamborghini Huracán or a Mercedes SL?
My home for two nights was Mövenpick Hotel Stuttgart Airport, a stylish hotel less than five minutes walk from the arrivals hall. Modern and conveniently placed, it was a physical incarnation of typically German efficiency. At 10h00 sharp an immaculate black 1967 Mercedes-Benz 600 pulled up at the doors of the hotel and headed on to Sindelfingen, home of Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Centre. In its day this grand Mercedes established new and higher standards than ever seen before in automotive engineering and excellence. If ever there was an appropriate car to travel in style from Stuttgart to Sindelfingen, this is surely it. It’s been said that beauty achieves a deeper meaning from its reference to something that only exists in the future. Suitably Gorden Wagener & Richard Webb (on right)