How a brilliant 1991 Mercedes shaped our future

Officially a research vehicle, the F100 looked tantalisingly close to being production ready, with Autocar’s Peter Robinson describing it as a “superbly finished” and “rakish MPV”.

Unfortunately, a production version never materialised, although there were hints of the F100 in the Vision GST of 2002 and the subsequent R-Class MPV. It was so advanced, many of the features wouldn’t appear until later in the decade, while others took even longer to hit the market. Here, we showcase the key features and the models influenced by the F100:

Peter Robinson was our man in Detroit. He described the F100 as “a mobile test bed for impending technologies and, not least, an effective generator of publicity”. He went on to say that the concept was a “complex and complicated camouflage, interesting in its own right for its problem-solving potential”.

The US was Mercedes' largest export market, accounting for 13 per cent of annual production. As the brand’s biggest shop window, the Detroit debut made sense, although the F100 was quite unlike anything offered by Mercedes at the time. In conclusion, Robinson said: “The F100’s destiny is no more than to occupy a prominent spot in the Mercedes museum”. However, to prove that his crystal ball had survived the flight to the US, he said the “vision of the future was at least a decade away from reality”. 

The Mercedes range looked very different in January 1991. We were just a couple of months from the global debut of the new W140 S-Class (pictured) at the Geneva motor show, but the company offered just one proper family car. The W124 E-Class could be optioned with seven seats, but aside from the questionable family-friendly merits of the G-Class, parents were forced to look elsewhere for their school run transport.

MPVs weren’t sexy. Cars like the Honda Civic Shuttle, Toyota Previa, Mitsubishi Space Wagon and Renault Espace were certainly practical, but a strong image wasn’t part of the package. In this context, the Mercedes F100 looked otherworldly. No wonder our man Robinson was so enthusiastic.

With the doors open, the Mercedes-Benz F100 looked even more like a car from a science fiction film. Terminator 2: Judgment Day was 1991’s highest grossing film, so perhaps the Mercedes was more T-1000 than F100. Parts of the floor and roof opened with the front doors to provide easy access for the driver. We’ll come back to that single seat in a moment.

In a subtle nod to the Nissan Prairie, the F100 did not feature (central) B-pillars. This, combined with the sliding doors, created wide entry and exit points for the rear-seat passengers. All four doors featured a kind of easy-closing system, with motors locking them into place.

From above, it’s easy to see the F100’s central driving position. This was a prelude to the McLaren F1 of 1992. Mercedes argued that the centre of the passenger cell is the safest spot in a vehicle, so it made sense for the driver to adopt a central position. Priority was given to the driver in frontal offset and side impacts.

At 4869mm in length, the Mercedes F100 was a long car. That’s roughly the same length as a Ford Galaxy, an MPV that can seat seven people with room to spare. So it’s a little surprising to find that the F100 featured just five seats. Mercedes argued that a passenger car on average carries only 1.2 to 1.7 people in daily traffic, so five seats would be enough for most families.

Opting for five rather than seven seats was a clever move by Mercedes-Benz, not least because it enhanced the feeling of space. The level of finish was more akin to that of an S-Class, with the F100 offering the kind of quality that would have been alien to MPV drivers of the time.

Even the fitment of three-point seat belts highlights how far safety has progressed in the past 30 years. Rear seat belts only became compulsory in 1986 in the UK, before the law changed in 1989, making it a legal requirement for children travelling in the back to belt up. Two years later, another rule change dictated that adult passengers must also wear seat belts in the back.

From above, it’s possible to see the solar panels covering two square metres of the roof surface. These could generate up to 100 watts of output for the power supply. Handy, when the in-car technology extends to a mobile fax machine and a permanently installed personal computer.

Although the in-car fax machine never took off, the cars of the future would become increasingly more reliant on software and electronics.

Although roof-mounted solar panels have never hit the mainstream market, there are a few examples of cars that can harvest solar energy to boost efficiency. In 2019, Hyundai unveiled a version of the Sonata hybrid to improve fuel economy and lower emissions. The current Toyota Prius Plug-in is available with optional panels, as were previous versions of the Nissan Leaf and Audi A8.

In 2010, Daimler and Europcar launched the car2go mobility concept. The Smart Fortwo featured sophisticated car-sharing telematics and a solar roof. The energy would power the telematics and charge the battery on the move, and the ventilation system when the Smart was parked.

The dashboard of the F100 is instantly recognisable as a Mercedes-Benz – and not just because of the three-pointed star on the steering wheel. Compared with the new Hyperscreen coming to the upcoming EQS electric limousine, the F100’s dashboard looks simple, uncluttered and rather refreshing. The central driving position is part-McLaren F1 and part-Johnny Cab from the film Total Recall.

There’s a Becker Mexico CD/radio to the left of the driver and an automatic air conditioning control panel to the right. Note the telephone buttons on the steering wheel. It would be a while before these made it into a production Mercedes… 

The first Mercedes-Benz multifunction steering wheel arrived on the W220 S-Class of 1998. As well as the telephone, the driver could also control the audio volume and select from menus on the new COMAND (Cockpit Management and Data) system.

For the first time in a Mercedes, the steering wheel was paired with a car radio, telephone and display in the middle of the instrument cluster. There were up to eight menus to choose from. Today, Mercedes has moved on to the clever MBUX infotainment system.

With the notable exception of the G-Class, Mercedes-Benz headlights of the era were big, bulky items, flanked by a pair of amber indications. The F100’s clear lenses were at odds with the corporate look, but it was the technology behind them that was the most illuminating.

The F100 was the first Mercedes-Benz to feature gas-discharge headlights. The company said they provided “excellent illumination of the road, despite compact headlamp dimensions”. But when did they first appear on a production Mercedes?

Gas-discharge headlights, commonly known as xenon lights, were introduced on the W210 E-Class of 1995. They tripled light emission compared with standard halogen headlights, lasted longer, consumed less power and made it safer to drive at night.

Although Mercedes-Benz claimed the dynamic range control made them less dazzling for other road users, oncoming drivers of the time might have disagreed. The C215 CL of 1999 was the first Mercedes to feature bi-xenon headlights, before the W211 E-Class of 2006 introduced the idea of bi-xenon headlights with an active light function.

The most remarkable thing about this image is just how futuristic the Mercedes-Benz F100 must have looked in 1991. With the benefit of hindsight, the styling was at least a decade ahead of its time. From this angle, the F100 looks like a W124 estate car of the future. If only it had made it into production.

Not only did the rear lights look good, they also featured some innovative tech. The clusters contained transparent prism rods that could be actuated by a central light source. Depending on the functions, they could light up in the corresponding colour. Hidden from view is a concealed wiper to clean the rear window and the rear lights.

With the exception of aero blade technology, the humble windscreen wiper is the same today as it was in 1991. In the F100, the front wiper moved across the entire width of the windscreen, clearing most of the glass.

A sensor behind the windscreen automatically activated the wipers when it rained. The C140 CL Coupé of 1996 was the first Mercedes production model to feature rain-sensing technology.

The reversing camera has come a long way since the Mercedes-Benz F100 was unveiled in 1991. While today’s cameras are discreet to the point of being invisible from the outside, the F100 featured a system that looks more like a modern closed-circuit TV camera.

Given the length of the F100 – not to mention the questionable rearward visibility when the four back seats were occupied – a reversing camera would have been essential when parking.

It would be another 14 years before the reversing camera would make it into production on a Mercedes-Benz model. Available as an option on the 2005 W221 S-Class, the camera assisted the driver and used coloured lines on the display to show the calculated path for parking in the space.

This S-Class also featured a parking guidance system to measure the length of a parking space while driving past, indicated whether the space was large enough, and issued instructions for parking.

In many ways, the Mercedes-Benz F100 was a pioneer of networked vehicles. The screen in front of the driver could, in theory, display the speed limit on any given road, while providing a warning of imminent hazards.

It also previewed cruise control ahead of its arrival in a Mercedes in 1998, and a blindspot monitoring system before the launch of Active Blind Spot Assist in 2007. Even automatic lane keeping was possible in 1991, though on this vehicle it was more conceptual than demonstrative. Daimler-Benz developed the idea in the 1990s, but it actually debuted on a truck - the Actros - in 1999, not a car. The E-Class was the first Mercedes to get it in 2009.

The forward-looking Mercedes-Benz F100 was powered by a rather backward-looking 2.6-litre V6 engine with its roots in the 1980s. Other engines though were taken into consideration, including one powered by hydrogen. Only now are we seeing the first commercially available Mercedes models offering zero emissions.

Just as significant was the fact that the F100 was front-wheel drive. This was the first time a Mercedes had been driven through the front wheels, previewing the approach of the A-Class of 1997. The F100 and A-Class also shared a sandwich floor design principle.

The F100 also featured a tyre pressure monitoring system, first seen on a production Mercedes when it appeared on the C215 CL of 1999.

In the same year, a chip card instead of car keys became an optional extra on the W220 S-Class – eight years after it was previewed on the F100.

Even voice recognition was fitted to the F100, albeit at a conceptual stage. The system was introduced as Linguatronic on the S-Class in 1996, initially as an option. It meant that a driver could control the navigation using voice commands, although the results could be a bit hit and miss.

Today’s MBUX system is more reliable. It’s activated via a button on the steering wheel or by using the phrase “Hey Mercedes”. Rather than direct instructions, the driver can access the weather by asking “Do I need sunglasses tomorrow in Bournemouth?” Alternatively, the heating can be turned up by saying “I am cold”.

Some concept cars are little more than a designer’s flight of fancy. Others are so outlandish, there’s little hope of them making production. A few, like the F100, provide a tantalising glimpse into the future.

Today, it should be remembered as one of the most important concepts of the 1990s and the kind of MPV we wished our parents had bought. “It takes a small step towards the centralised control of the car,” mused our Mr Robinson in 1991. Unfortunately, that was one giant leap the car industry wasn’t prepared to take, even if Gordon Murray’s McLaren F1  made the dream a reality for a luck few in 1992.