Janoschka magazine Linked_V6_2021

36 k n o w l e d g e & c o m p e t e n c e
issue #6 © l i n k e d 37
Car manufacturers
pick up the scent
Scents have played a role in the motor industry for
a while now. Daimler Benz patented a scent for vehicle
interiors not long after the Second World War.
However, the fact that the company never enforced
the patent shows above all that it was decades
ahead of its time. It was not until the 1980s that
scents suddenly became important in the automotive
sector. Initially, car manufacturers went to
great lengths to neutralise smells in vehicle interiors
where possible – mainly to eliminate the often unpleasant
plastic odours emitted by the interior trim.
A lot has happened since then. Scent options now
seem to know no boundaries.
Do you want your car to smell new for as long as
possible? Should the interior emit the luxurious
smell of leather and wood? Today, car buyers can in
many cases use a scent system to decide for themselves
how their car should smell and how intensely.
Peugeot was one of the first manufacturers to
use this idea. Now many other carmakers also fit
cartridges in the air vent ducts to release scent into
the vehicle interior.
Other industries have followed. In recent years, almost
all self-respecting brands have addressed the
questions of scents and how their products smell.
The new fragrance, exclusively for
the EQS: no.6 MOOD Linen.
In the Social and Technological Research
department at Mercedes-Benz, futurologist
Sabine Engelhardt analyses the zeitgeist
and long-term social trends.
The research results then flow into strategies,
products – and fragrances.