Mercedes Runs Over the Fringe with Luxe Golf Cart

Considering how much country clubs charge, a Benz golf cart seems like money well-spent.

By Clifford Atiyeh 

 

Since Mercedes-Benz sticks its huge star on anything with wheels – cars, vans, buses, semis, bikes – the next step was golf carts.

To the folks who flood country-club parking lots with late-model Mercedes sedans and coupes, this could make a whole lot of sense. Most people, ourselves included, are absolutely terrible at golf and use it as an excuse to hold office meetings outside while drinking.

But no matter how many bogeys we rack up, we'd sure love driving around the fairway in an electric, solar-powered Benz golf cart with cooled leather seats and air conditioning.

So far, the Benz golf cart is only a sketch dreamed up by the company's design studio in Carlsbad, Calif., which leaned on other sketches and suggestions from Mercedes enthusiasts around the world. The equipment list borrows many features from the company's luxury cars –  and, we might add, copies the golf ball body style of the Renault Twizy, a tiny 2-seat electric car on sale in Europe.

The design study was released at the conclusion of the Open Championship in Scotland last Sunday, which saw Phil Mickelson take home the victor's Claret Jug.

Here's the rundown of the ridiculous pampering:

• Stereo system with Bluetooth, USB and iPad/iPhone docking
• Electrochromic dimming windshield with wipers and rain sensors
• Heated and ventilated seats with Airscarf, which blows warm air on the neck
• Speedometer with head-up display
• LED headlights with floodlight to illuminate the next play
• Fridge
• Vanity mirrors (requested by the ladies, Mercedes said)
• Air conditioning with optional doors
• Internet connection with weather radar and direct communication with the clubhouse and other carts
• Digital scorecard
• "Fore button" to warn other carts of incoming shots
• Retractable lightning rod

Mercedes was silent on wheel choices, paint and exactly what features would need to be bundled with its other overpriced option packages. Regardless, we would prefer a hovercraft feature with underwater sonar to recover drowned balls, an AMG edition with carbon ceramic disc brakes, an automatic hole-in-one guidance system and a camouflage system that would let us sneak onto the course midway without paying.

Really, anything goes, so let's have at it.

[Source: Daimler]