The newest concept car from Mercedes-Benz is the Vision G-Code, a stout silver vehicle that looks like it's from the near future. Unveiled this week, the concept SUV — or SUC (Sports Utility Coupé) as the German carmaker calls it — boasts all sorts of futuristic features. It runs on a hybrid engine, but it's not your typical hybrid: the back wheels are powered by an electric motor while the front wheels are driven by a turbocharged hydrogen combustion engine. The electric motor's power comes from the typical sources like regenerative braking and plug-in technology, but also comes from the paint job.



Mercedes-Benz has dubbed the paint a "multi-voltaic silver" finish, and it not only acts as a solar cell but can also generate an electrostatic charge from the wind that the car slices through. The suspension also dynamically generates a charge, meaning there's some electricity being created with almost every movement the Vision G-Code makes.

The most visually striking feature of the Vision G-Code's design is the continuous glass that stretches from the driver's side window all the way around the windshield to the passenger side. Mercedes-Benz likens it to the look of the type of windshield found on a powerboat, but science-fiction fans might think it looks more like a Cylon Raider.

As with most concept cars, we'll likely never see a perfect mass production version of the G-Code, but the hope is that many of the smart ideas strewn throughout the design end up in some (if not all) of Mercedes-Benz's models in the future. Until that happens, all we can do is drool over the photos and daydream about driving it.