Press Release
Interior design: Harmonic balance between technology and nature
The very first glance into the interior of the F 700 conveys a clear message: comfortable travel and well-being are interpreted in a completely new way on board this vehicle. The spacious interior, the innovative, multifunctional configuration of the seats, or the use of elegant but natural materials enable an extremely relaxed form of transportation.
Resource-conserving mobility will gain ever increasing significance in future according to the analyses of the DaimlerChrysler futurologists. The conservation of energy reserves refers not only to fuel and the environment, but just as much to the well-being of the passengers: For many people, the distances they cover will not increase, but the time they spend on the road will. The traffic in the rapidly growing megacities of this planet calls for mobile living spaces which afford highest comfort on wheels.
An essential component of this well-being is the freedom of movement inside the vehicle and the possible seating alternatives. The F 700 breaks up the conventional, rigid seating order of the touring sedan (with its two seats in the first row and two more in the back). The heart of the novel seat concept in the Mercedes-Benz research car is the REVERSE seat – a completely new design thought out for the right rear seat, permitting individual seat positions both facing the direction of travel and in the opposite direction.
So the interior offers very different possibilities for use: Four persons sit in the conventional manner facing the direction of travel. When the front passenger seat is unoccupied it can be moved all the way forward to its park position to create room for the relax mode: extremely large legroom, a large footrest and a tilted REVERSE seat ensure relaxed travel even over long distances.
The automobile as a private room
At the push of a button the innovative seat swivels in the opposite direction: The back seat passenger no longer looks to the front, but turns his attention away from the road. He “retires”, can hold a confidential chat face to face with his companion on the left rear seat. He can work, enjoy the entertainment program or simply take a rest. Owing to the REVERSE seat’s variability, this sedan affords entirely new freedoms for traveling in complete ease.
Of course, the high-quality, elegant and light interior design of the F 700 also conduces to relaxed travel. It thrives on the tension between clear-cut, direct forms and organic, living surfaces; it displays harmony in its colors and variation in its materials. The blueprint from the Advanced Design Studio in Como, Italy, interprets the future of the luxurious sedan in warm colors, in harmonious brown and beige tones, combining “technical” surfaces with surfaces featuring natural materials like cork and leather.
The innovative technology in the F 700 creates the basis for the impression of spaciousness and clarity: the innovative SERVO display at the base of the windshield employs mirror reflection technology to render the massive hood of a conventional instrument panel superfluous. The cockpit is shallow and low-profile. And owing to the radically simplified control and display concept, the number of switches is reduced to a minimum. The slim hood at the front, at the windshield, is used entirely as an outlet for the draft-free automatic climate control.
Inner harmony of colors and materials
The balance and harmony of the color scheme is the result of a combination of brown leather, matching Alcantara and open-pored cork for the door liners, the roof lining or the center console, which runs all the way through the interior. The seats are upholstered in beige leather with middle portions in matching Alcantara. Painted aluminum can be found on all operating panels and the SERVO-HMI.
Transformation by the REVERSE seat
The trick of changing around the interior with the REVERSE seat is accomplished at the push of a button: the front passenger seat moves all the way forward into its parking position; as it does so the backrest partly folds down into the cockpit. Huge legroom now is available to the right rear passenger. A footrest can be extended and the entire seat can be placed in a flat relax position.
But the REVERSE can do much more. As the front passenger seat moves forward the REVERSE seat also travels about 60 centimeters forward and does an elegant “backward roll”. What was previously the seatback becomes a cushion, and the seat cushion rises up and together with the headrest becomes a backrest.
The design of the REVERSE seat also took some doing. The backrest of a seat is always appreciably longer than the seat cushion. The two seat halves of the REVERSE seat are identical, each consisting of five flexibly connected elements. A well-thought-out mechanism pushes these segments apart as soon as they are used as a backrest, with the outer segment then serving as head restraint. In the opposite direction, an electric motor pulls the segments together again to create a closed surface as soon as they are used as a seat cushion.
Entertainment in exclusive surroundings
If desired, the rear seat area can be turned into a cinema. A monitor with an overall diagonal display measurement of 51 centimeters slides out of the partition to the luggage compartment and surprises the passengers with fascinating images. A surround sound system creates a cinema atmosphere. More than anything else though the monitor delivers fascinatingly deep images with its 3D technology. The 3D representation carries the viewer right into the middle of the action; the three-dimensional images make the scenery appear so close you can almost touch it. Complementing stereophonic sound is delivered by a high-quality surround sound system. In the rear seat area, the center tunnel, which extends the full length of the interior, features a heated or cooled container for drinks and snacks.
