Kia builds a clay sculpture of the EV4 GT for Rafael Nadal

Kia has presented Rafael Nadal with a full-size sculpture of the EV4 GT, built using clay gathered from the courts where he built his reputation as the "King of Clay". The model was handed over at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain, and carries no interior or drivetrain.

A one-off tribute, not a production car

The sculpture is a single display piece rather than a running vehicle. It matches the footprint of the production EV4 GT hatchback and sits on production wheels and tyres, so it can likely be rolled, but it has no interior and is not designed to be driven. Most styling clay models rest on platforms with cart wheels for moving them in tight spaces, which Kia did not use here.

Because it is a showpiece, Kia has not announced any production version of the clay car. The EV4 GT hatchback it mirrors is the road-going model, and the sculpture exists only as a tribute in Nadal's collection.

Clay from Monte Carlo, Paris, Rome and Madrid

Kia blended traditional styling clay with earth from courts in Monte Carlo, Paris, Rome and Madrid to form the body. White design tape picks out the character lines, a nod to the white lines of a tennis court, and custom exterior graphics mark Nadal's career milestones.

The lettering is specific: "63 TITLES ON CLAY" beside the headlight, "81 CONSECUTIVE WINS ON CLAY" on the hood, "4 FRENCH OPEN TITLES" at Roland-Garros among his 22 Grand Slam singles titles along the profile, and his signature next to "5 SEASONS AT NUMBER 1" at the rear.

Twenty years of ambassadorship

Nadal has been a Kia global brand ambassador since 2006, after his first Grand Slam win, and retired from professional tennis in late 2024. "For more than twenty years, Kia has been by my side throughout my career, through all the highs and the challenges," Nadal said. "Receiving this tribute, created from the material that has defined so much of my journey, is incredibly meaningful".

Kia noted that clay modelling remains part of vehicle development despite the rise of digital tools, because designers use physical models to judge proportions, surfaces, finishes and tensions. Choosing the compact EV4 GT rather than a flagship model puts the tribute on a car that is itself a production hatchback, which makes the sculpture a recognizable link to something customers can actually buy, even though this particular example is not one of them.

Mercedes-Benz plans to bypass a second generation of Level 3 hands-free driving and move directly toward Level 4 autonomy, with the company's chief technology officer saying a production car at that level will not arrive until after 2030. The strategy marks a retreat from the position Mercedes held in 2023, when Drive Pilot became the first Level 3 system approved for use on US roads.

The newest S-Class reached the US market without Drive Pilot fitted, a signal of the change in direction as the automaker concentrates on more advanced driver assistance rather than incremental hands-off driving.

Why Drive Pilot fell short

Drive Pilot launched on the S-Class and EQS and allowed drivers to take their eyes off the road under defined conditions. Its usefulness was capped by an operating limit of roughly 40 mph, which confined the system to slow-moving traffic rather than ordinary highway cruising, and it worked only on certain roads and in certain conditions.

Jörg Burzer, Mercedes-Benz's chief technology officer, discussed the reversal at a media roundtable with Road & Track, describing the early Level 3 push as a lesson in timing. "Sometimes if you are too early, then you see that you have to work on what the customer really wants," he said.

That matters because a hands-off system that only switches on in a jam asks drivers to learn new habits for a narrow slice of their journey. Mercedes' own account suggests the capability arrived ahead of the use case, not behind it.

A more capable Level 2 takes priority

The company's immediate focus is MB.DRIVE Assist Pro, a point-to-point assistance system intended to handle more of the driving on highways and in urban environments. Mercedes says it can assist with lane changes, intersections, turns and traffic lights.

The updated S-Class reportedly carries as many as 27 sensors to support these functions. Drivers must still pay attention and stay ready to take over, which keeps the system at Level 2.

For buyers, that means the near-term gain is a system that works across more of a normal drive rather than one that briefly removes their hands on a restricted stretch of road. The trade-off is that eyes-off driving, the headline feature of Level 3, disappears from the plan for now.

Level 4 is the long-term target

Level 4 describes a vehicle that can complete all driving tasks within its defined operating conditions without a human supervising. Burzer expects that technology to reach a production Mercedes-Benz sometime after 2030, and says the rollout will likely be gradual once it does.

Mercedes has not announced which models will receive Level 4 first, nor which markets will get it at launch. Given the post-2030 timing and the gradual approach Burzer describes, the first cars to carry it are likely to be a narrow, expensive subset of the range rather than a broad option across the lineup.

What Mercedes has not said

The sources do not confirm pricing for MB.DRIVE Assist Pro, nor whether Drive Pilot will be withdrawn from existing markets or simply left to age out of new models. Mercedes has also not committed to a date for the first Level 4 car beyond the post-2030 estimate.

The direction is clear enough: Mercedes would rather sell drivers a system that helps on every trip than one that takes over on a few. Whether that bet looks right depends on how quickly Level 4 hardware arrives, and on whether rivals keep pushing eyes-off driving in the meantime.