On a show like the IAA car manufacturers do not only show their latest models that will soon be available at their local dealerships, they will also bring concept models which will show the brand's long term strategy. We can't tell you what we will eventually see from this concept in the production models but it's great to look back at older concepts and recognize elements from the current models.
Mercedes shows us concepts more often and for the show in Frankfurt they built the IAA Concept. In this case 'IAA' doesn't stand for 'Internationale Automobil Ausstellung' but for 'Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile'. Some kind of German humor. More interesting is of course the technology and the looks of the car because that's what Mercedes will use for their future models.
At the front we see a nose that reminds us of earlier concepts by Mercedes like the F 015. At the back we see something that reminds us of the Volkswagen XL1. That's no coincidence because Mercedes aims on keeping the Cd value as low as possible, something Volkswagen also tried with the XL1.
Pièce de résistance of the IAA Concept can be found at the back of the car. The car has an extendable tail to make the air flow even more efficient. It's quite a big tail because the, which has a lenght of five meters can be extended to 5.43 meters. Thanks to this piece of technology the car has a Cd value of only 0.19. Together with the plug-in hybrid technology this results in a very low fuel consumption.
