Despite now revealing the cabin of the car and the recent design sketch, Mercedes-Benz won't take the full wraps off the new E-Class until January's Detroit show. Speaking at the Los Angeles motor show in November, Wagener promised an “all-new design” for the E-Class that is “much more beautiful and modern” than that of the current car and “much cleaner than even the C-Class and S-Class”.
He also said the car would have dramatic rear-wheel-drive proportions, with a cab back design, long bonnet, huge wheels at each corner and a new ‘catwalk’ line that ran across the whole side of the body rather than dropping away. Spy pictures of the exterior of the car back this up, and the features are apparent in the sketch.
“All Mercedes cars should have a glamour factor when you pull up, and this has it,” said Wagener.
Wagener also promised a whole range of new E-Class models, which would follow the templates of the C-Class and S-Class families, so expect a sleek estate, dramatic coupé and cabriolet and a sporty E63 AMG model. Wagener said prototype versions of the E63 should be ready next summer.
The front end has remained covered on the latest test mules, but the styling appears to be consistent with that of the C-Class and the last facelift of the E-Class, with large slanted headlights and a wide, three-bar grille.
However, Mercedes is expected to follow the same format as other recent models and offer two front-end treatments, so a traditional chrome grille will be available alongside a more sporting blade grille. Sources suggest the aerodynamics have been refined so that the drag coefficient has improved from 0.25 to a class-leading 0.23.
The new-generation model, codenamed W213, adopts Mercedes’ modular MRA platform, as used by the latest C-Class and S-Class models. Insiders confirm it will once again grow in size, to about 4950mm long and 1940mm wide. The estate variant, offering a similar 695-litre luggage capacity to its predecessor, is due to go on sale towards the end of 2016. The increased use of high-strength steel and aluminium is claimed to make both versions up to 100kg lighter than today’s.
Join the debate
Add your comment
How does that work?
@ daniel joseph
@abkq
Does anyone else think...