The

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

F 200 "Imagination" coupe is a concept study by then

Daimler-Benz Mercedes-Benz Group AG (formerly Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler, and Daimler) is a Germany, German Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive company headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is o ...

unveiled at the 1996

Paris Motor Show The Paris Motor Show () is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held during October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show presently takes place in Paris expo Porte de V ...

. The goal was to show off innovations in control, design, and comfort in passenger cars. The car's exterior design was in part based on the, then, upcoming S-Class. This 2-door coupe also previewed the

CL-Class The Mercedes-Benz CL-Class, now called S-Class is a line of grand tourers which are produced by German automaker Mercedes-Benz, produced from 1992 to 2020. The name CL stands for the German Coupé Luxusklasse (Coupé-Luxury). It is considered ...

coupe, which debuted in 1999. Mercedes-Benz F200 IMG 0899

Innovations

One of the unique innovations was the implementation of "Sidesticks".

Sidestick A side-stick or sidestick controller is an aircraft control stick that is located on the side console of the Aviator, pilot, usually on the righthand side, or outboard on a two-seat Cockpit (aviation), flightdeck. Typically this is found in air ...

s were a drive by

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

design (rather than the conventional

steering wheel A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel, a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles. Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and hea ...

and gas/

brake pedal Car controls are the components in automobiles and other powered road vehicles, such as trucks and buses, used for driving and parking. While controls like steering wheels and pedals have existed since the invention of cars, other controls have ...

s) that could be toggled between the driver and passenger. Other innovations included: * Butterfly doors (later used on the 2003 SLR McLaren) * Electro-transparent panoramic roof glass (later used on the 2002

Maybach 62 The Maybach 57 (chassis code W240) and 62 (chassis code V240) were the first automobile models of the Maybach brand since its revival by DaimlerChrysler AG (now Mercedes-Benz Group AG). They are derived from the Mercedes-Benz Maybach concept car ...

) *Video cameras in the place of rear view mirrors. * Window-Airbag (series launch in the

Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W220) The Mercedes-Benz W220 is a range of flagship sedan (car), sedans which, as the fourth generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class, replaced the Mercedes-Benz W140, W140 S-Class after model year 1998 — with long and short wheelbase versions, performance ...

). *Forward-looking dynamic handling control system *A very significant feature was the

Active Body Control Active Body Control, or ABC, is the Mercedes-Benz brand name used to describe electronically controlled hydropneumatic suspension. This suspension improves ride quality and allows for control of the vehicle body motions, allowing for reduced b ...

fully

active suspension An active suspension is a type of Suspension (vehicle), automotive suspension that uses an onboard control system to control the vertical movement of the vehicle's wheels and axles relative to the chassis or vehicle frame, rather than the conventi ...

, which entered series production on another coupe, the

in 1999. *Headlight system featuring variable light distribution. Production launch as

bi-xenon A headlamp is a lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the device itself and ''headlight'' is the term for t ...

headlights with Active Light Function in 2003 on the

Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W211) __FORCETOC__ The Mercedes-Benz W211 is the third generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class made from 2001 to 2009 in sedan/saloon and station wagon/estate configurations – replacing the W210 E-Class models and superseded by the Mercedes-Benz W212 i ...

Voice recognition Voice recognition can refer to: * speaker recognition, determining ''who'' is speaking * speech recognition Speech recognition is an interdisciplinary subfield of computer science and computational linguistics that develops methodologies and te ...

for mobile phone. Production launch under the name

LINGUATRONIC COMAND (Cockpit Management and Data system) is an in-car communications and entertainment system found on Mercedes-Benz vehicles. COMAND features a dedicated flat display screen. It includes software features such as a GPS navigation system, ...

in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class (W140) in 1996.

Urban legend fame

In the early 2000s, the F 200 gained popularity as pictures of it were being mass mailed out under the subject of "The New Benz - very different... really different!". Many of the emails incorrectly claimed the car to be the new "SCL600". The intent of the email was to draw sarcasm from the radical designs of the car and its Sidesticks control system.

External links

http://www.daimler.com/dccom/0-5-1276316-1-1276333-1-0-0-1320821-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0.html F 200 Imagination (1996) Daimler Official press kit

The F 200 email chains via Urban Legends

References

{{DaimlerChrysler F200