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Detroit Auto Show: Mercedes-Benz Ocean Drive Concept

What? There were no ponies available?

Perhaps something was lost in the translation from English to German, but apparently no one has told Mercedes that when people say "Dog and Pony Show," they don't mean a show with actual canines and small horses.

Mercedes brought no ponies but they did bring a dog-sled team to the show and set them loose on the ice rink they'd built at their show stand. We're not making this up... They also had a junior-league hockey team, a couple of pairs of figure skaters, Emmitt Smith and a soundtrack that included a Vanilla Ice selection and Tony Bennett performing a Van Halen song. What did this have to do with the four-door convertible Ocean Drive concept car that Mercedes unveiled this year? Nothing. The ice rink was there to add a backdrop for the company to talk about its 4-matic all-wheel-drive system. The skaters and dogs were there for related spectacle. We can't explain the Bennett/Van Halen thing. 

The concept, a sort of cross between a '60s Lincoln Continental convertible and a Bentley Azure, is striking in person--both imposing and graceful. Mercedes says that it is just testing the waters with the concept and has no immediate plans to produce the Ocean Drive. -- Daniel Pund

2 Comments

I like this car, hopefully Mercedes will use pieces of it in a future S-Class. I doubt the drop-top will make it to production, but that would be cool.

I love the concept of a four door droptop, but the front end has a strange 80s look to it.

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