- Within the coming years, Mercedes-Benz will drastically reshape its portfolio.
- A variety of two-door coupes, wagons, and SUV coupes are destined for discontinuation.
- Going ahead, count on a higher deal with top-end variants from AMG and Maybach, in addition to super-exclusive Mythos fashions.
In Could 2022, Mercedes-Benz outlined its newest long-term strategic plan, which includes drastically resizing and reshaping its huge product portfolio to maneuver even additional upmarket and change into much more worthwhile. On the time, the automaker didn’t give a full rationalization of the way it plans to take action, however now we’ve got a a lot clearer concept of what is destined for the guillotine and what new fashions we are able to count on.
Solely 14 of 33 Physique Types Will Survive
We talked to a number of high managers in Untertürkheim and Sindelfingen to search out out precisely why they imagine that wagons, coupes, and convertibles have an unsure future—or no future in any respect. Apparently, it has to do with the model’s new understanding of luxurious. Mercedes intends to tailor its future merchandise to organize them for prolonged personalised mobility providers, ease the strain on the driving force, and redefine creature consolation as a key model worth. The brand new mannequin combine might increase earnings, but it surely accommodates fewer emotional merchandise. Based mostly on what we have seen, of the 33 physique types Mercedes at present provides between Europe and the U.S., solely 14 will survive.
“On the finish of the day, we merely do not want property vehicles [wagons] or underperforming two-door choices to spice up volumes,” a senior member of Mercedes-Benz’s technique crew instructed Automobile and Driver. “Essentially the most important components of sustainable modern luxurious vehicles are area and time . . . That is our primary precedence—not one other fancy physique fashion, a mannequin that solely works in Europe, or one final stab at a dying phase.”
The C-class and E-class coupes and convertibles will stop to exist someday between 2023 and 2024, to get replaced by a pair of two-door CLE-class fashions. Present coupe-like SUVs and sedans aren’t lengthy for this world, both. The CLS-class will depart in 2024, and the sharper AMG GT 4 Door will comply with alongside in 2024 or 2025. New generations of GLE and GLC Coupes will debut within the coming years, however after that, their lineages may even finish.
Goodbye to the Capturing Brake
Issues are extra dire for followers of wagons and capturing brakes in Europe. The Europe-market C-class wagon might be gone after 2028. Later this 12 months, we’ll see the next-generation E-class, which can spawn the automaker’s final wagon, bidding farewell on the finish of its manufacturing run in 2030. The subsequent-gen CLA-class, which can journey on the MMA electrical platform and is because of debut in 2025, would be the model’s final capturing brake (in Europe).
There are nonetheless some fascinating autos on the horizon, although. Later this 12 months, Mercedes-AMG will launch the brand new GT coupe; it will likely be based mostly on the present SL roadster, which may even broaden its lineup with a brand new Maybach providing. In 2026, we are going to see a brand new four-door coupe, in addition to a next-generation SL with extra cargo and rear-seat area, and a brand new AMG GT coupe, all of which might be electrical. And talking of EVs, the MMA platform may even function the spine for a chunky GLG-class SUV in 2026.
As this new group steps into the highlight, we are able to count on to see extra capacious batteries (as much as 150.0 kWh), energy outputs approaching quadruple digits, and most ranges pushing towards the 500-mile mark on the European WLTP cycle. Most charging speeds ought to broaden to 270 kilowatts, too, due to a higher reliance on 800-volt electrical programs.
AMG Getting Extra Consideration
Since Mercedes-Benz’s extra unique corners might be prioritized going ahead, we are able to count on to see a higher deal with AMG fashions, in addition to Maybach—in actual fact, there’s even discuss of an ultra-ritzy V-class van. The wildest creations, although, will come from the OEM’s new Mythos collection of hyper-expensive collectibles. There are some very intriguing propositions right here, together with a Gullwing reincarnation, a four-door G-class pickup truck, and a racy speedster based mostly on the SL.