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All New Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupé Arrives in Australia
Home > News > Mercedes-Benz 26th July, 2009
The all-new Mercedes-Benz E-Class coupé has arrived in Australia. This award winning classic two-door joins its sedan sibling under the German marque’s famous E-Class badge. Previously known as the popular CLK-Class coupé, this stunning two-door model returns to the rank of E-Class after more than ten years. The last Mercedes-Benz coupé to wear the coveted E-Class badge was the C 124 model. As the two-door variant of the all new E-Class, this striking coupé offers customers the design, comfort, safety and hallmark Mercedes-Benz refinement expected from one of the marque’s exclusive two-door models. As with the all new E-Class sedan, this new model’s introduction brings with it a number of technologies to this important Australian new car segment, offering customers the latest in safety and comfort to go with this car’s driving performance. The launch of the new E-Class coupé also sees an extension to the German car maker’s "First Choice" strategy, offering buyers immense value from the model range’s repositioned pricing and feature-rich standard equipment lists. The new E-Class coupé will be in authorised Mercedes-Benz passenger car showrooms from 29th July, 2009. The first models available will be the V6-powered E 350 coupé and the E 500 coupé, boasting the marque’s powerful yet efficient 5.5-litre 285kW V8 engine. Essential facts about the new E-Class coupé are detailed below. All-New Model The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class coupé is an all new model (code C 207) and replaces the outgoing CLK-Class (code C 209; Australian release was back in May 2002). Return of the E-Class badge The original E-Class coupé was model code C 114 (1968-1976), which was succeeded by the C 123 (1977-1985) and then the C 124 (1987-1995). It was in 1997 that the C 208 series was released under the new CLK badge, which continued with the C 209 series (2002-2009). This all new C 207 coupé sees the return of the E-Class badge to this exclusive two-door Mercedes-Benz model. Development As with its sedan 'sibling', development work on the new E-Class coupé was exhaustive, involving 1,400 development prototype and pre-production vehicles. After years of factory-based simulation and testing, these vehicles departed the car maker’s Sindelfingen factory in Germany in 2005 and then covered 34 million kilometres in testing and development over four years. This incredible achievement has never before been accomplished by any other Mercedes-Benz model. Not only is this development distance akin to circumnavigating the equator 850 times or making 88 trips between the Earth and the Moon it has helped ensure high quality levels for customers. Safety The new E-Class coupé is based on a comprehensive safety concept, making it arguably the safest car in its class. This is evidenced by the 150 in-house crash tests and 17,000 crash simulations the E-Class underwent before commencing series production. Like the sedan its passive safety arsenal is vast. Examples include use of aluminium and steel alloy structures specifically designed to channel loads in an accident impact, the PRE-SAFE® anticipatory occupant protection system, nine airbags, and four seatbelt pre-tensioners as standard. Active safety features are extensive and sees innovative technologies appearing for the first time. These include:
Engines and transmissions The powerful engines in the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class coupé range ensure the driving excitement associated with the marque but also incorporate economy and environmental compatibility. As with the sedan, optimised torque output, reduced fuel consumption and lower exhaust emissions were the guiding principles in their development. The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class is available to customers with one turbo-diesel engine and three petrol engines. The E 350 coupé and E 500 coupé come equipped with further optimised versions of the powerplant from the previous CLK model series. Newly developed engine has been fitted to the turbocharged petrol E 250 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY coupé and twin-turbo-diesel E 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY coupé. The engines and gearboxes available in the all-new E-Class coupé are summarised below: Engines:
* combined cycle, according to ADR 81/02 Transmissions:
Exterior design The powerful and striking exterior design of the new E-Class coupé features classic coupé proportions (long bonnet, sleek side flanks, flat roof line with downward sweeping curves, crisp ear styling). It naturally has hallmark Mercedes-Benz design characteristics: centrally positioned star in the radiator grille (not on top of the bonnet), no B-pillars, and fully lowering front and side windows. The coupé’s image starts with the pronounced V-shaped front end, which reinterprets the model’s famous twin headlamp face by shaping the headlights with bold and aggressive contours. This characteristic was introduced in the C 208 model-series CLK-Class (1997-2002) and was carried over to the outgoing model, which blended the lights together. At the rear, the new model’s powerfully contoured rear guards emphasise its width and it features a diffuser-look rear bumper. This year, readers of the German AUTO BILD magazine voted the newMercedes-Benz E-Class coupé the best looking car in the award category “coupé and cabriolet”. Interior design The interior of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class coupé has a sporty and stylish design. It has coupé-specific ergonomically designed seats with integral head restraints and has individual style full-size seats in the rear. It has automatic belt feeders for the front occupants. As with the new E-Class sedan, the use of high grade materials and workmanship convey an impression of high quality, both in terms of look and feel.
Suspension and handling The new E-Class coupé comes fitted with AGILITY CONTROL suspension. The car’s dampers are amplitude-dependent, meaning their damping characteristics will vary between softer comfort- and firmer sports-orientation depending upon road surface and driving behaviour. The Dynamic Handling package is fitted as standard equipment to the E 500 coupé (optional on other models). This is an electronically controlled damping system which alternates between a comfortable or sporty driving style, as activated by the dashboard-mounted ‘Sport’ button. The ‘Sport’ mode also engages shorter transmission shift times and continuous adaptation of characteristic maps for the accelerator, transmission, damper response to road conditions, speed-sensitive power steering with variable centring and more direct steering ratio. Package also comes with steering wheel-mounted shift paddles. Electronic Stability Programme ESP® fitted as standard to all models. The E 500 coupé comes fitted with AMG Sports package as standard equipment (optional on all other models). BlueEFFICIENCY Numerous specific features have been added to the new E-Class coupé to further reduce energy consumption and maximise efficiency. These include:
Environmental certification The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class has been awarded an environmental certificate by the German TÜV SÜD organisation. This environmental certification is according to ISO standard 14062 and involved analysing more than 40,000 individual environment-related processes. The ‘Design for Environment’ (DfE) process applied to the development of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class takes into account the time from the car’s development to eventual disposal and recycling. Other Mercedes-Benz cars that hold this sought-after certification are the A-, B-, C-, and S-Class models. This year, the new GLK-Class was the first Mercedes-Benz SUV to be awarded this prestigious certificate. Pricing
Value The successful value strategy adopted by Mercedes-Benz from July 2007 with the current-model C-Class has also been applied to the new E-Class coupé. This strategy is based on providing customers with greater levels of standard equipment (based on popular features) and, in many instances, repositioning of pricing. Despite being priced $2,414 more than the previous C 209 model series CLK 350 coupé, the new E 350 coupé gains more than $9,500 in additional standard equipment. Likewise, the new top-of-the-range E 500 coupé is priced $18,695 more than the C 209-series CLK 500 but gains an additional $28,000 in standard equipment. The four-cylinder versions of the E-Class coupé also receive standard equipment levels significantly richer than the previous model series. Important note regarding pricing The prices detailed in this news item are the current Manufacturer’s List Price (MLP) for the Mercedes-Benz E 250 CGI BlueEFFICIENCY coupé, E 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY coupé, E 350 coupé, and E 500 coupé. The MLP includes GST and any LCT applicable to the base/standard specification model but EXCLUDES DEALER DELIVERY AND ALL ON-ROAD COSTS such as, for example, registration fees, stamp duty, CTP and the like (commonly known as statutory charges). For drive away price information, consumers should contact a Mercedes-Benz dealer. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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