The Vision Iconic Capsule Collection: presented at the world premiere of the Vision Iconic in Shanghai 2025.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz’s vision for the future of mobility: A masterpiece for a new iconic era.
“Inspired by the golden era of automotive design in the 1930s, this Vision Iconic show car embodies the pure essence of Mercedes-Benz. With its seemingly extended hood, sculptural, flowing lines, and a touch of Art Deco, it stands as a true icon of automotive beauty.”
“The interior, featuring a continuous bench seat and an elegant rear reminiscent of the legendary 300 SL, highlights its timeless appeal. Our Vision Iconic is more than just an automobile – it is a sculpture in motion, a homage to timeless elegance, and a statement for the future. The harmony of traditional craftsmanship, cutting-edge technology, and a distinctive design language makes it the ultimate expression of value, prestige, and grace: the most beautiful, most prestigious kind of thing,” says Gorden Wagener, Chief Design Officer Mercedes-Benz Group AG.
Mercedes-Benz Vision Iconic: The sculptural exterior in deep black high-gloss finish
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz Vision Iconic: The sculptural exterior in deep black high-gloss finish
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Design sketches of the Mercedes-Benz Vision Iconic.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
The front is defined by the iconic grille. It is a striking, forward-looking homage to the traditional chrome grille, which as a key design element has shaped the face of Mercedes-Benz for over 100 years. The iconic grille draws inspiration from the upright grilles of legendary models such as the W 108, W 111 and the Mercedes- Benz 600 Pullman.
Mercedes-Benz Vision Iconic: The sculptural exterior in deep black high-gloss finish
Credit Mercedes-Benz
With its wide chromed frame, a smoked-glass lattice structure, and integrated contour lighting, the iconic grille combines heritage with digital modernity. It exudes presence, status, and a strong Mercedes-Benz identity. This new face of the brand was first shown with the all-new electric GLC in September 2025. Vision Iconic enhances this bold presence by even illuminating the upright star on the bonnet.
Mercedes-Benz Vision Iconic: The sculptural exterior in deep black high-gloss finish
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Vision Iconic: Equipped with the latest technologies such as solar paint, highly automated driving Level 4 (ADAS), steer-by-wire, and neuromorphic computing.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is researching innovative solar modules that could be seamlessly applied to the bodywork of electric vehicles, similar to a wafer-thin paste. The photovoltaic-active surface could be adaptable to various substrates.
When applied to the entire vehicle surface of the Iconic Vision, additional range could be harnessed from the sun, depending on geographical location and local conditions. For example, an area of 11 square meters (equivalent to the surface of a mid-size SUV) could produce energy for up to 12,000 kilometers a year under ideal conditions¹. The coating does not contain any rare earths or silicon and can be easily recycled. The solar cells have a 20 percent efficiency and generate energy continuously – even when the vehicle is switched off.
1 Based on the light incidence in Stuttgart, Germany.
Mercedes-Benz Vision Iconic: The sculptural exterior in deep black high-gloss finish
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Neuromorphic computing revolutionizes energy efficiency and latency in autonomous driving. Future vehicle models like Vision Iconic will include more and more functionalities, such as autonomous driving.
Neuromorphic computing mimics the functioning of the human brain. This could make AI calculations significantly more energy-efficient and faster. Safety systems, for example, could better recognize traffic signs, lanes, and other road users and react faster, even in poor visibility conditions, and would be 10 times more efficient than current systems.
The Vision Iconic Capsule Collection: presented at the world premiere of the Vision Iconic in Shanghai 2025.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Hyper-analogue and lounge comfort: the interior of Vision Iconic represents a new kind of journey. With automated driving, the role of the car’s interior is evolving. Vision Iconic offers a glimpse into this future, characterised by lounge-like comfort and an entirely new experience of hyper-analogue and digital luxury.
The Vision Iconic interiors
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The interior of Vision Iconic redefines automotive elegance through an opulent Art Deco-inspired composition of finest craftsmanship and exclusive materials. The centrepiece of the instrument panel is a floating glass structure, the so called “Zeppelin” – a sculptural form that reveals a captivating interior of artfully designed details and a refined interplay of analogue and digital instruments.
The Vision Iconic interiors
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With steer-by-wire, a completely new steering experience combined with maximum safety becomes a reality at Mercedes-Benz. Especially in a long car like the Vision Iconic, the perfect interaction with rear-axle steering becomes clear: handling improves, and maneuvering and parking become easier. This is because steer-by-wire can further reduce the effort required, and it eliminates the need to re-grip the steering wheel while parking.
This technology does not require a mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the front wheels. Instead, the driver’s steering inputs are transmitted quickly and electrically via control units and actuators.
Vision Iconic: Equipped with latest technologies such as solar paint, highly automated driving Level 4 (ADAS), steer-by-wire, and neuromorphic computing.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
The Vision Iconic Capsule Collection: presented at the world premiere of the Vision Iconic in Shanghai 2025.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
As a true pioneer, Mercedes-Benz stands at the forefront of development in assisted and automated driving systems. Thanks to their sophisticated safety-based approach, further enhanced Level 2 point-to-point urban capabilities come standard in Vision Iconic. With this system, Mercedes-Benz offers expert handling of complex urban traffic scenarios, with cooperative steering and acceleration as a unique feature. It helps the driver navigate busy streets in the world’s biggest cities.
Vision Iconic: Equipped with latest technologies such as solar paint, highly automated driving Level 4 (ADAS), steer-by-wire, and neuromorphic computing.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
The logical next development step to conditionally automated driving would be to prepare a car like Vision Iconic with a Level 4 highly automated driving system. After entering the freeway and activating the Level 4 system, the driver could use the time to relax without having to deal with traffic at all. It would be also possible and permissible to take a nap or get comfortable while streaming the latest trending video including an immersive sound and ambient light experience. The car becomes a luxurious lounge.
The world premiere of the Vision Iconic in Shanghai 2025.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
The Vision Iconic Capsule Collection: presented at the world premiere of the Vision Iconic in Shanghai 2025.
Credit Mercedes-Benz
Alongside the show car, Mercedes-Benz presents a capsule collection of six carefully designed outfits for men and women. With dark blue nuances and silver-gold accents, the outfits not only reflect the luxurious colour scheme of Vision Iconic but also play with the show car’s interior’s graphic elements.
