There’s nothing quite like that new car smell, but after a while the luxurious scent of leather and upholstery gives way to the smell of spilled coffee, gym gear or whatever else it is you pack into your car. Try as you might with vent plug-ins and dangling pine trees, that new car smell is no more. But what if your car could have the fresh scent it had when you bought it every day? Better yet, what if that ‘new car smell’ was tailored to your personality and fragrance preferences?
That’s the thought behind Mercedes Benz new ‘active perfuming system,’ available in the new 2014 S-Class and C-Class for an additional €350. The perfuming system comes tucked away in the glove box, and sends an atomized spritz of fragrance through the car’s vents in five minute intervals. The driver can control the strength of the scent’s spray, turn the system off and on altogether. Atomizing the fragrance into a fine spray ensures the scent won’t permanently change the overall smell of the car’s interior or cling to any of the car’s surfaces.
The perfumes come in small canisters that last up to a year once inserted in the perfuming system, and are available in four different fragrances designed by Marc von Ende, senior perfumer at Symrise, a company specializing in developing fragrances and flavors.
‘Experiencing my perfumes in a car was quite a sensation,’ von Ende said.
The four fragrances, or ‘moods,’ available to Mercedes drivers include Freeside, a light citrus scent; Nightlife, which smells of cardamom, pink pepper and cognac; Downtown, with floral and musk; and Sports, scented with greens and citrus. The system also comes with an empty canister that car owners can fill with any alcohol-based perfume to truly personalize their ride.
Von Ende teamed up with Sabine Engelhardt, the Mercedes-Benz ‘futurologist’ tasked with developing the active scent systems. ‘I was hardnosed enough to push the ‘feminine related’ perfume topic into a quite masculine dominated engineering culture,’ Engelhardt said. ‘Furthermore, bridges had to be built between the perfume and automobile industry.’
Dr. Bodo Kubartz, a fragrance market expert, also advised on the perfume system project, bringing a unique consultant’s perspective to the team. ‘Both the passion for perfume and the thrill to consult and convene players in the [perfume] field are empowering tools to learn and perform in this sector.’
The task of ensuring that the perfume system interacted well with the senses already engaged by the Mercedes’ striking interior fell to Martin Bremer, the senior manager of Colour and Trim Design at Mercedes-Benz. Ensuring a harmonious relationship between materials and colours of the car’s interior and the new scent system proved to be a puzzle for Bremer.
‘A space like the interior of a car has to appeal to all human senses,’ Bremer said. ‘To create this harmony of sense in combination with the brand values and the product messages… is the challenge of the Colour and Trim Design Team.’
In introducing the active perfuming system to their cards, Mercedes-Benz hopes to offer their discerning customers another option to customize their vehicle and overall Mercedes ownership experience.
‘Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world,’ said Dr. Stefan Geyer, the Head of Development Interior for the company. ‘When Sabine came to me with her story and idea about the perfect fit of perfume to our Mercedes-Benz car brand, I was immediately convinced.’