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Mercedes-Benz Concept IAA Embodies Two Cars in One with 0.19 Drag Coefficient

Last week, Mercedes-Benz took everyone by surprise with a teaser that showed us just the name of a concept coming to the Frankfurt Motor Show 2015. Getting over the initial shock, we’re now back to tell you all about what Concept IAA is and no, the ‘IAA’ doesn’t stand for ‘Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung.’
Mercedes-Benz Concept IAA 18 photos
Photo: Mercedes-Benz
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As a matter of fact, the acronym stands for ‘Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile’ and it’s a hint at what the engineers and designers tried to achieve with it. You see, Mercedes wanted to prove that in attempting to achieve the best possible fuel-efficiency numbers it’s not just the powertrain that matters. Aerodynamics can play a huge part as well.

After setting a new world record for production cars in terms of aerodynamic drag coefficients with their CLA-Class model (cd value of 0.22), the Stuttgart-based manufacturer is back with yet stunner. The IAA is even better in this regard, being capable of reaching a coefficient of just 0.19. That’s not an easy feat either.

You see, to do so, the car will actually shapeshift. In the standard or ‘design mode’ the car looks incredibly good already but, as soon as the vehicle reaches 80 km/h (50 mph) it will start to change its appearance, altering its shape.

No less than eight segments extend from the rear, making the length of the car increase by up to 390 millimeters (15.35 inches). Up front, flaps in the bumper extend by another 25 mm (1 inch) while the same happens in the back with other flaps going backwards by 20 mm (0.78 inches) to improve the overall airflow.

That’s not all though, even the Active Rims fitted on the car change their shape at the speed mentioned above, their cupping going from 55 mm (2.1 inches) to zero while the louvre in the front bumper moves 60 mm (2.3 inches) towards the rear.

Step inside for more connectivity

While the exterior of the car will make many scratch their heads trying to figure out how everything works, the interior is just as unique according to Mercedes-Benz.

Starting from the design of the S-Class and S-Class Coupe models, the best materials were used to decorate the ambiance. Designers worked closely with engineers from a variety of fields to create something special. The steering wheel has two horizontal spokes with touch-based operating functions that are supposed to increase functionality without distracting the driver.

They are equipped with OFN (Optical Finger Navigation) buttons, and they allow the driver to scroll easily through the car’s menus. The button on the left controls the left-hand display while the button on the right... you get the picture.

Under the bonnet

The car is a hybrid and not an EV as you might expect. Under the hood hides a combination of internal combustion and pure electric power, that raises up to a total of 279 HP.

In electric mode, the car will manage a range of 62 km (38.5 miles) in design mode and go up to 66 km (41 miles) in the aerodynamic mode. However, Mercedes claims that these figures are not showing the true grit of their car as the tests performed according to the European testing cycle were done mostly around town, and, therefore, the IAA Concept couldn’t put its aerodynamics to work correctly.

While it may all sound like a cry baby calling for his mommy, we tend to believe the three-pointed star manufacturer, mostly because their car indeed seems to have been designed to shine at above 80 km/h (50 mph). During the next few days, we’ll take a closer look and show you some live photos of it as well, straight from Frankfurt.

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