At the 1970 Geneva Motor Show Mercedes-Benz made waves with the debut of its gull-winged, fiberglass-bodied C111-II concept car. Powered by a 345-hp quad-rotor Wankel engine, the wedged-shaped one-off was capable of achieving a 186-mph top speed and could clock 0-60mph runs in under 5 seconds. When it first broke cover, the C111 was an incredibly innovative and cutting-edge concept that was decades ahead of its time, aiming to offer a unique glimpse into the future of sports cars. Fast forward a little over half a century later to today, and the German marque has taken ample inspiration from the 1970 concept car to deliver a contemporary take on a sports car of tomorrow with the all-new Mercedes-Benz Vision One-Eleven Concept Car.
Like the 1970 concept — which was actually the successor to a three-rotor C111 concept from the year prior — the new Vision One-Eleven project sports a modernized interpretation of a wedge profile, albeit with a rounded roofline and bulbous flared fenders. These flarfed items open up space for the car’s custom set of oversized wheels — a 12-spoke design filled in with finned spoke-like elements and backlit LED lighting. Like its ‘70s era predecessor, the Vision One-Eleven also boasts a set of flush-fit gull-wing doors that open to reveal a neo-retro-inspired interior with a full-length digital display, a yoke-style steering wheel, and space-age-inspired bucket seats with custom four-point harnesses that come trimmed in silver diamond-quilting made from recycled materials. The back of the cabin also houses a bespoke travel bag cut from the same diamond-quilted construction that adorns the seats.
Encompassed by a red LED perimeter light, the rear end of the car features a digital display that serves as the taillight. Directly below is also a modern oversized rear diffuser — just one component of the concept’s cutting-edge aero kit, alongside bespoke side skirts and a front splitter. In place of the C111’s quad-unit rotary mill is a state-of-the-art YASA axial-flux high-tech electric motor that draws from a liquid-cooled cylindrical-cell battery that benefits from the use of cell chemistry derived from Mercedes-AMG’s Formula 1 program. While fairly large, the battery pack has been shoehorned into a pallet-like structure that lines the bottom of the concept car, keeping its center of gravity as low as possible.
While thus far, Mercedes-Benz has no plans of putting the Vision One-Eleven into production, the one-of-one concept nonetheless offers a unique glimpse into the future of high-performance electric sports cars — not unlike the C111 before it.
