Benz plotting 'year of the SUV' in 2015

Mercedes-Benz has declared 2015 "the year of the SUV", as it embarks on an unprecedented assault on the sizeable head-start of its two German arch-rivals in the fast-growing luxury crossover market.

While Audi has plans to offer nine SUVs ranging between the all-new Q1 and Q9 , BMW will soon have seven SUV models including everything from X1 to X7 -- excluding MINI's Countryman and Paceman.

In Australia, Benz has the GLA at one end and the seven-seat GL at the other, with only its top-selling SUV, the M-Class, in the middle.

That's because the original GLK mid-sizer was never produced in right-hand drive, preventing Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific from presenting a rival for top-selling SUVs like the Audi Q5 and BMW X3.

All that will change from next year, however, when the German giant release its GLK replacement, which is expected to make its world debut at the Detroit motor show in January, before going on sale in Australia in late 2015.

The GLK successor will be called the GLC as part of a model naming restructure that will also see the facelifted M-Class introduced as the GLE.

Previously referred to as the MLC, the facelifted, rebadged GLE/ML will be joined by a facelifted GL in showrooms earlier next year, and both the GLC and GLE will spawn curved-roof 'coupe' versions.

The GLE Coupe has already been previewed by the imaginatively named Concept Coupe SUV and will be a direct rival to BMW's X6 and Audi's eventual Q6.

All four models – except the BMW X4-rivalling GLC Coupe, which isn't due until 2017 – will be on sale here next year.

And apart from petrol and diesel engines, all four will be available with high-performance AMG engines and, almost certainly, in plug-in hybrid form.

Due on sale in Europe by mid-2015, the GLK-replacing GLC shares its chassis architecture with the latest fourth-generation C-Class.

Codenamed X253, it will be powered by a range of longitudinally mounted inline four-cylinder and V6 petrol and diesel engines -- matched with seven- or nine-speed automatic transmissions and the choice of rear- and all-wheel drive -- all from the C-class.

Likewise, the GLE's plug-in hybrid powertrain will come from the C-Class PHEV to appear at the Paris show, while the AMG version will share the Mercedes-AMG GT-derived twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 that will power the new C 63 AMG.

Later on, according to Autocar, the GLC's V8 petrol and diesel engines will be replaced by a new range of straight sixes that will first appear in the next-generation E-Class.

Such is the expansion rate of its SUV portfolio that Benz is running out of motors shows at which to reveal them.

Mercedes will focus on its all-new AMG GT supercar at next month's Paris show, where the facelifted B-Class, S 500 Plug-in Hybrid limo and, perhaps, new C-Class Cabriolet, will also debut.

motoring.com.au has learned the new C 63AMG will also make its world debut in Paris on October 2 – in both sedan and wagon form.

That means Mercedes' new SUV entourage will begin appearing as early as the Los Angeles show in November with the facelifted GLE wagon and new GLE Coupe, while the new GLC wagon and perhaps even the GLC Coupe will be shown for the first time at January's Detroit show – the largest motor show in the world's largest SUV market, where it will also be built.

While Mercedes will not comment on the public leakage of its new model naming strategy, Daimler AG chairman and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Dieter Zetsche indicated to Australian media in Germany last week that an announcement about nameplates within its expanding SUV range will happen.

"Next year is the year of the SUVs for us," he said.

"We will have the GLK replacement, we will have the coupe version of the M-Class, we have the facelift for the M-Class and the GL, so basically a full and fresh portfolio in SUVs we will see in the market, and the GLA is obviously brand-new as well.

"We will talk about nomenclature in the near future. Of course it is a strong brand. On the other hand we might see an opportunity of becoming more organised and more logic in our line up, so we will see."

While Benz has sold about 560 GLAs so far in Australia this year (about half the number of X1s sold by BMW and a third the number of Q3s sold by Audi in the same period), the M-Class remains the brand's top-selling SUV, with 1967 registrations – about 800 behind the BMW X5.