NEWS
Bouquets for Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Next Benz flagship will offer scented interior, but don't expect all the benefits of aromatherapyMercedes-Benz will introduce the new (W222) S-Class to Australia around the end of this year – complete with an 'active perfuming system'.
It's not an especially new idea – French cars have come equipped with built-in deodorisers for years – but Benz has developed the idea further, to suit each vehicle owner's personal preferences. To achieve this, the company offers the active perfuming system with a choice of four fragrances, as was explained to motoring.com.au by in-house expert, Sabine Eberhardt, during a technical presentation for the new S-Class.
The four fragrances, which Benz calls 'moods', are Nightlife, Downtown, Sports and Freeside. All are quite pleasant to the nose and there's no hint of uncollected garbage in 'Downtown', for instance, or the stench of stale sweat in 'Sports'. But pleasant as they are, will they do more than just set the scene for a romantic date?
'No', says Ms Eberhardt; the fragrances are for ambience only, there's no therapeutic value to be had. Essentially, developing fragrances that can affect mood for each and every person ever likely to drive the new S-Class is simply too challenging. And the reason for that is partly biological, partly early life experience.
"The nose is connected with a very old part of our brain, and this old part is responsible for emotion and for memory... if you like [the smell of] strawberry as a child it's okay, but [someone else associating strawberry fragrance with] getting sick... will not like strawberry," Ms Eberhardt explained.
She offered an anecdote to clarify the way people became psychologically conditioned to abhor certain odours, even though the majority of the population might feel otherwise.
"Lavender is said to be calming [but] I once had a woman here... and she was getting really angry, because [her mother-in-law], when she visits she comes with [lavender-scented deodorisers] for the clothes box and... the whole thing smells like lavender. She hates it, she was so angry – nothing about calming down."
And just as we occasionally 'learn' to associate bad experiences with normally pleasant smells, so too we have to be taught as kids to steer clear of things that smell bad.
"This is trained; we learn in childhood... maybe it's not really nice, but in the beginning when we are small and little – it's about [defecation]... it's okay; you touch it and it's not bad for us. We learn that it is bad," she said. Ms Eberhardt's brother, a father of a young child, had to explain that while both parents were very proud said child was now potty-trained, they didn't really welcome having the end product of that training thrust under their noses – directly from the hand of the child.
So what are the chances that a company like Benz can introduce aromatherapy to its model range in future? Will there come a time when we can turn a dial to a point somewhere between 'Calm' and 'Energised', depending on whether we're driving in peak-hour traffic or preparing for a track day?
"Who will organise that? Who will say that for you sandalwood is nice?" Ms Eberhardt responded. Once again, the individual tastes of humans would make that sort of feature practically impossible to develop and implement.
Given the way we respond, as individuals, to different smells, it's no wonder that Benz's fragrances for the new S-Class tend to be subtle. And the choice of four means that everyone should find at least one to suit, but buyers can also opt to fill the refill containers with a fragrance not offered by Benz, if they find one more to their liking.
The dispenser resides in the glovebox (as pictured), where the removable refill container is also located. According to Ms Eberhardt, an important factor in developing the system was that it should not swamp the leather aroma that people have come to expect of luxury sedan interiors. The system, which is manually operated by the driver or front-seat passenger, can be adjusted in two stages for intensity, but automatically operates intermittently, once switched on.
"It's always five minutes on, five minutes off – because the nose is not made to smell all the time..." she said.
And what do the various moods smell like? The writer, whose olfactory sense clearly isn't all that highly refined, acknowledged that the four fragrances were nice enough, but couldn't label each one by its constituent blend of aromas. That's where the Benz perfumer's experience shone through. She was able to define Freeside as a blend of citrus and green tea, Sports as the smell of a tree in springtime, Downtown as an exotic (artificial) smell, and Nightlife is apparently reminiscent of cognac and cigars in a dark oak-panelled room.
From that experience, it seems, when it comes to our olfactory receptors and the way our brains interpret signals sent from them, we are all individuals.
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Written byKen Gratton
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If the price does not contain the notation that it is "Drive Away", the price may not include additional costs, such as stamp duty and other government charges.
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