Next Mercedes E class
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Shaping up to look like a big C class. Or a small S class.
I wonder if that is still enough. Having these cars that all look alike.
It’s not like the old days when Mercedes was pretty much the only and obvious choice for those looking for a luxury car.
The E class starts at over $50 000 for the V6.
That is a lot of money.
Jaguar, Lexus , Infiniti etc…. All these people offer a lot of really great cars for quite a bit less.
And with all these $299 leases on cheaper C class models, the name Mercedes isn’t really what it used to be, is it?
I think so Vince. Mercedes still sells over 2500 E class cars a month. Big ticket Mercedes cars (not just the C) are up as well: CL, SL, SLK & M classes all rising. I found this info on Autospies-not sure how reliable though. As you know-here in LA they are everywhere. No sign of rough times.
It is ashamed that Mercedes has diluted their three-pointed star. The good old days when everyone aspired to own one when the lottery money comes in or becoming a partner at a law firm. Now every Jack and Jill at the project can own one coupled that with the onslaught of a cheaper Lexus and Mercedes loss of reliability. Moreover, Mercedes has gotten too big, too many vehicles overlapping or ones that made no sense (i.e. CLS etc). It will eventually fall 🙁
“Mercedes isn’t really what it used to be, is it?”
No. It’s much better today.
The problem with the current E class is that it blends in with all the accords and camrys and acura’s out there, whereas the old E class was IN YOUR FACE and stood out, and you could see this car a block away. and that piss poor brake savior backfire thingy didnt help at all ! i would never buy new brake technology till it was proven for years like good ole hydraulic brakes…
Great site Vince! To be fair-nothing is what it used to be. The 80’s are gone, and M-B would be also if they still built E-Classes like the W124, which by the way cost nearly $50,000 all the way back in 1986. Yes-the last 2 decades have been tough for these guys, and so is building a car to a price point for the first time ever. I’m especially excited about the newest models.
The last real Mercedes was the W140 S-Class. It had all the qualities that Mercedes stood for at the time, tank-like solidity, quality, stance, timeless and unique but understated styling and had a presence on the road unlike any other car. Right now the only cars worth having the three pointed star on the grille is the CLS and G-Wagen.
Two things stand out in this photo.. the sharper, more upright roofline which appears to be something of a step backward from the softer, smoother look of the current model (obviously an attempt to differentiate from the similarly-sized CLS) and the thick, heavy rear end accentuated by the upward slash of the lower sill line. I think they will still sell every one they build.. but it is not a styling improvement.
It seems like they took the drawings of the C-class, enlarged them to 120% in a photocopier, and said, “there you go, that’s your E-class”. The MB design team are becoming a bunch of lazy bastards