Mercedes-Benz’s New 'Avatar'-Inspired Concept Is ALIIIIVE

Who needs a windshield when you can project the road (or another planet) on the cabin’s interior?

Stephen Reuss

I jokingly ask Wagener where the “queue” is—the place where Pandorans plug their neuron-hairs into one another.

“We’re not actually plugging into the car, yet. I’m sorry about that,” Wagener jokes back. But then he moves my hand over a pulsing latex ziggurat that slowly rises from the console between the seats. This is beehive-shaped joystick controls the movement of the vehicle (which, as a concept, will not be made and will likely drive 40 feet in its life). “That’s the Merge Device,” Wagener says. “One of the most sensitive parts of your body is the palm of your hand, you rest it on the device and you have the most feeling in there.”

The “Merge Device” (a.k.a., a joystick)

Mercedes-Benz AG – Global Communications Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans

Though the AVTR is meant to evoke the idea of a transportive pet with feelings, as a concept vehicle it’s real-world purpose is to demonstrate Mercedes-Benz’s vision for what comes next in cars. “The big idea is the move to a sustainable modern luxury,” Wagener says. “For us as a car brand, and the automotive category in general, to find new ways to get vehicles in harmony with nature, and environmentally friendly.”

He strokes the padded white dash, and explains that the “hide” covering it is a synthetic “leather” made of recycled plastics. Ditto the knubbly cloth door inserts, produced from old single-use plastic bottles. The wood-look floors are Karuun, a compressed composite made from cast off rattan palm vines. The rose gold-colored aluminum trim? Also recycled. The battery that powers the whole thing is semi-organic, its cell composed of graphene, and can be recycled.

Sketches of the Vision AVTR

A mock-up of the Vision AVTR inside Mercedes-Benz’s Stuttgart headquarters

Courtesy Mercedes-Benz

Beyond that, Wagener says that Mercedes-Benz just wanted to make something ambitious and cool. “The overall thing is simply to make a super spectacular statement,” he says. “A car that is from a science fiction movie that can drive on a different planet.”

He takes a step back and considers his creation. “I mean, some people are obviously dreaming about going to Mars,” he says, taking a dig at the Red Planet-colonizing ambitions of Elon Musk. “But we go to Pandora, which is even further.”

Though, technically you won’t see the Vision AVTR rolling through Pandora on its blobular wheels at all—the car won’t be in Avatar 2 when the film’s released at the end of 2020.

“I mean, Pandora doesn’t have streets right? So it wouldn’t make sense,” says Wagener. “But it should look like it could drive there.”