Mercedes-Benz Zamboni
At the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz demonstrated the new all-wheel-drive S550 on an ice rink.
S550 on ice, with figure skaters
(Credit: CNET/Sarah Tew)At the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, Mercedes-Benz demonstrated how its S-class could be used to smooth the ice of a skating rink. Or the company might have been demonstrating the new all-wheel-drive S550. Either way, most of the Mercedes-Benz floor area at the show was covered with ice, along with ice skaters chasing an S550 around the rink. Mercedes-Benz has offered its 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system in a variety of its models and used the Detroit show to announce its availability in the S-class. Mercedes-Benz brags in its press literature that it first developed an all-wheel-drive system in 1907.
The German automaker has been going to extremes to show off its new S-class, previously with the two-level structure it built inside a concert hall for the 2005 Frankfurt Auto Show, where it launched the redesigned S-class. BMW used big ice blocks to unveil its Hydrogen7 car, which might not seem as an impressive a feat as building an ice rink. But BMW has ice blocks at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show, a region where frozen water doesn't naturally occur.
