Whatever you think of the new styling directions at BMW and Audi, they don’t half shine a light on the rut that Mercedes finds itself in.
The new electric Mercedes-Benz GLC is just as shiny and new underneath as the BMW iX3, yet in giving the model the same look as pretty much every other Mercedes launched over the past decade or more, a lot of that fresh approach is lost.
The innovation in the car underneath fails to cut through on the surface, no matter how many LEDs are in the new GLC’s grille.
Audi had been in a similar position to Mercedes until recently: styling stuck a constant evolution that after a while becomes samey and eventually even old in some of the surfacing and touches. You could guess what a new car would look like before the covers had even come off.
The recruitment of Massimo Frascella from JLR emphatically addressed that at Audi, and his vision for a new four-ringed look was seen with the Concept C, another Munich motor show star. Whether you like the Concept C or not, it is something different, something more daring, not just another iteration of what has gone before. It’s a starting point for change.
BMW has never been afraid to reinvent its look itself and has been the boldest of the German premium trio with styling revolutions. You won’t find many kind words about its most recent styling departure, but with the new iX3, it has shown that a look that started as quite shocking and polarising can be refined into something more contemporary and palatable. It works.
Since Gorden Wagener took the design helm at Mercedes in 2008, the styling direction has remained largely constant after he got his vision into the generation – and now generations – of cars that have followed.
What felt fresh and modern a generation ago under Wagener feels staid and done now. We’re ready for something else. Is Mercedes ready to take the design leap that its latest technology deserves?
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Mercedes-Benz tried to do something revolutionary with the EQ models, like the EQS and EQE, yet they failed. So now they are going back to doing what is actually selling... cars that are conservatively styled and more immediately identifiable as a Mercedes. I personally think there is not so much stylistically wrong with the GLC EQ except that hideous LED grille that will likely start having burnt out pixels within a few years. The iX3 and Neue Klasse styling direction in general is very divisive. A lot of people hate the look of the new iX3 and i3 concept, while others like it. I was really excited about the look of the CLA concept, but then the final product really didn't wow me much, especially the light bar on the front. I do think the current Russian-doll styling of the entire Mercedes lineup needs to stop as it can sometimes be hard to tell a C-Class and an E-Class apart, but overall I don't find the outsides to be offensive. The interiors are where I have my biggest gripes with Mercedes. Little things like the stark blue lighting they use on USB-ports looks like some cheap Chinese accessory. Their plastics quality has gone way downhill in recent years, and it is insane seeing blanked off switches on six-figure S-Classes because someone didn't check a box for seat ventilation or heating for the rear. I also think their new hyperscreen interiors are so bland and will not age well. The last-generation C/E-Class had the nicest looking interiors in recent Merc history with big swathes of wood, aluminum, etc. Beyond that, I also will have to say that Mercedes has not invested nearly as much into the electrification game as BMW. BMW is producing a new cell format not used by anyone else. Mercedes is still buying off the shelf pouch and prismatic cells from CATL and Farassis instead of truly innovating something new. That's why you can see such a huge disparity in the iX3 with a 107-108kWh battery pack and 500 miles of range, vs. the 94.5kWh pack used in the new GLC and just 435mi range for the RWD model (probably realistically mid-300s).
Could not agree more with this article, the latest batch of Merc's look like uglier versions of what they were pumping out 10 years ago.
I see Gorden Wagener also mocked the new Audi Concept C interior for having a small screen that folds away. When most public opinion I've seen says it looked really cool and minimal when we are in generation of screen overload. I spend all day in front of screens, I want my drive home to be a relaxing wind down, not an icon fest
I also felt like it wasn't exactly professional of him to mock the Audi's interior either, especially when he's getting so much crap for how awful and boring his cars look.