PICS: Merc turns golf cart into golf ‘car’
Mercedes-Benz has been associated with golf in many ways, since the 1980s. In fact the brand claims to share some of the same values as the international sport.
MERCEDES IS SERIOUS ABOUT GOLF
From 2008 to 2013 Mercedez-Benz was an international partner of the world’s most prestigious golf tournament, the Masters in Augusta, and has been on of three global sponsors since 2014.
It’s also been the ‘Official vehicle’ and ‘Official Patron’ of the PGA Championship, the Senior PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup (when it takes place in the USA) since 2009.
Also read: Mercedes’ new yacht is all yours, for R24.7million
MERCEDES-BENZ INTRODUCES THE CARBON FIBRE GOLF-CAR
Using high-grade materials, the modern luxury typical of Mercedes and sophisticated technology, the Golf Car is progressively different to traditional golf carts. Its integrated functions and technology are much like modern Mercedes vehicles, so much so that this was enough for Merc to decide to call it a ‘Golf Car’ instead of a golf cart.
They’re calling it the ‘Garia Golf Car’ and claim that it authentically transfers the unmistakable Mercedes-Benz automobile design idiom of sensual purity to a premium-class golf cart.
The showcar is the result of cooperation between Mercedes-Benz designer, Daimler’s Think & Act Tank Business Innovation and the well-known golf cart manufacturer Garia.
INTERVIEW WITH GORDEN WAGENER (HEAD OF DESIGN FOR DAIMLER AG)
“Our golf car stands for modern luxury”
From your point of view, what is it that makes Mercedes-Benz vehicle design so successful?
Our design is hot and cool. Our design philosophy of sensual purity combines beauty with intelligence, defining the modern luxury for which the Mercedes-Benz brand stands.
How does your design philosophy of sensual purity manifest itself in the Golf Car?
Transferring our automotive design idiom to the Golf Car was something quite natural, and in doing so we have created a product that is both sensual and pure.
A very emotional and sensual form combined with intelligent technical details. One example is the tablet, which allows the occupants access to all the necessary information.
What is your favourite feature of the Golf Car?
That is difficult to say. For me the Golf Car is an overall composition with which we have reinvented the world of the golf cart. Everything fits together, the proportions, the surfaces, the headlamps, the interior, the details. In the interior we have created something of a mobile lounge, with a new, interactive design on a touchpad where I can run both my golf software and the vehicle software.
What does the concept of modern luxury have to do with the Golf Car?
Mercedes-Benz stands for modern luxury, and golf is an authentic part of that theme. It is a very active sport, but also very luxurious.
What do you think of the 2013 design competition?
We received a phenomenal response to this competition for the design of a golf cart – quite wonderful suggestions, proposals and designs. This was the starting gun for this project, so to speak, and logical in terms of the relationship between Mercedes-Benz as a vehicle manufacturer and our commitment to golf. And we have managed to reinvent the golf cart as the Golf Car.
INTERVIEW WITH SUSANNE HAHN (CO-FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR GARIA)“Ideas for the future”
What is the role of Daimler Business Innovation?
Daimler Business Innovation is Daimler’s in-house think & act tank. This means that we not only think about future business models outside our core business, we also turn them into reality. In doing so we can try out ideas and work together with startups we consider to be promising. We are active throughout the group.
What is the culture at Daimler Business Innovation compared to the group as a whole?
A very open, innovative culture is a basic requirement for our work. Our cross-divisional, international team has a wealth of experience in a variety of areas. This makes us able to develop and assess ideas from different standpoints. To some extent our team is a microcosm of the large Daimler corporation. It means that we can implement projects more rapidly. To put it another way: we are the group’s “speedboat”.
How many ideas actually come to fruition?
A maximum of one out of twenty or so ideas. As a first step we test our ideas in the form of pilot projects. Naturally things can sometimes go wrong, for example if market maturity has not yet been achieved. Without this culture of accepting mistakes, there would be no innovations and no ideas for the future. Failure is not negative, it adds to our pool of experience.
What role does Daimler Business Innovation play for the Golf Car project?
We have the welcome task of forming a cross-section of all the divisions and bringing them around a table. We have overall management responsibility for all the different units involved in the sale and production of the Golf Car. To this end we work together with external experts, in this case the GARIA startup team, and also use the internal know-how of Daimler Business Innovation with its nine years of experience in developing new business models.
How was Daimler Business Innovation involved in the Golf Car project?
We developed the complete business model for the Golf Car, and brought all the disciplines necessary for development of the Golf Car around one table. We then worked together with the Mercedes-Benz Style design team and the Garia startup team, which is responsible for technical aspects, production, sales and after-sales.
With regard to innovation, how important is digitisation for the Golf Car?
The Golf Car is fully digitised. We have not only integrated a central touch display with which all the functions of the Golf Car can be controlled. We have also developed a completely digital sales model. Wherever you happen to be, this enables you to experience the vehicle virtually with three mouse-clicks, and in a possible later pilot stage also order it. We may also be able to use this simple solution as a pilot for future sales channels.
What is different about the Golf Car compared to other golf carts?
It is above all different because of its progressive design idiom, the use of high-grade materials, the modern luxury typical of Mercedes, and sophisticated technology. There was passion involved.