While Elon Musk’s Tesla is actually shipping vehicles that look like concept cars, the old school auto players are still rolling out dream cars that look good in photos, but almost never see the streets.

The latest is the Mercedes-Benz VISION AVTR concept car, which was unveiled at CES in Las Vegas this week.

seagate hard drive ad

The colors of the vehicle and its framing might be familiar and that’s deliberate. It turns out that the company worked with Hollywood to give the car a design reminiscent of the James Cameron film Avatar.

The vehicle is powered by four high-performance, near-wheel-built electric motors and has a function that allows it to move sideways by 30 degrees in what Mercedes calls a “crab movement.”

Additionally, the company says the vehicle has a range of around 434 miles and the battery can be charged in 15 minutes.

But remember, this is a concept car, not a vehicle being sold to the public. So these claims are great, but until companies like Mercedes match Tesla and actually bring innovation to the streets, we can only look at this for what it is, an awesome concept car.


Cover image via Mercedes