Wheels Australia — June 2017

18 wheelsmag.com.au

Curiously, the concept car

carries a so-called Panamericana

grille, thought to be exclusive to

AMG models. “The racing grille

with its vertical bars, is dedicated

for AMG models,” confirms

Wagener. “But the contours of

the grille will be seen on the

production models.” Meaning the

successor to today’s AMG A45 will

get the Panamericana grille.

Wagener confirmed that the new

LFA2 architecture created for the

new A-Class range brings much

reduced overhangs, especially at

the front. Front overhang has been

cut by around 100mm, yet the

new car is close to 100mm wider.

“We’ve done a huge amount of

work on the platform to reduce

the overhangs,” agrees Wagener.

“So much so that the crash length

[the body’s crash protection] is

now behind the [front] wheels. The

design now has the DNA of rear-

drive proportions and feels like

a compact limousine with great

design balance. Even the feeling

of the 190 baby Benz. There’s now

enough taper in the body that [in a

“ Cleaner, more voluptuous design doesn’t

work unless you have good proportions”

• Gorden Wagener

three-quarter front view] the body

ends when the back wheels stop.”

Surfaces are far simpler.

“Cleaner, more voluptuous design

doesn’t work unless you have

good proportions. It’s much harder

than basically throwing stuff at

the car. The car’s surface is not

simply a blank canvas onto which

the details are applied as nothing

more than decoration. This sounds

so easy to do but it takes a huge

amount of work and self-discipline

from the designers.”

Wagener isn’t a fan of many of

the current crop of Asian models,

though he sees the Koreans as

striving for cleaner designs than

Reduction of the front overhang

has prompted a radical rethink

of front-end crash structures.

Handling will benefit from

keeping a greater percentage

of the engine’s mass within

the wheelbase

Reduction in crease lines and

sharp surface changes on angled,

contoured flanks is the latest

development of Mercedes ‘Sensual

Purity’designtheme.Bottomof

doors disappointingly indented like

so many commodity car designs

JUNE 2017

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Lead us not into temptation...

Nissan has been developing a prototype centre

console intended to battle the texting-while-

driving plague on our roads. The UK team

has built a Faraday cage into the armrest of a

Nissan Juke to block the electromagnetic fields

your phone uses to communicate with cellular

towers, and thus other phones and the internet.

The ‘Signal Shield’ will also stop Bluetooth

signals, which means that putting your phone

into the cage essentially makes it a brick,

reducing its distractive potential. Alternatively,

you could just switch off your handset.