Benz to ditch M-Class name

One of Mercedes-Benz's best-selling vehicles, the M-Class, will be renamed the GLE-Class in 2015 as part of a midlife facelift, mainstream and AMG versions of which have been spotted several times in testing, and again with even less camo here.

That's the word from Mercedes-Benz sources cited by two different publications, Car and Driver and the official Mercedes-Benz museum's PassionBlog.

The idea seems to be that Mercedes can tie the M-Class name closer to its large, medium and small SUVs, which are named GL- GLK- and GLA-Class respectively.

The GLE name would also provide a link to the similarly sized E-Class sedan and wagon, adding cachet to the name.

What this means for the recently spied M-Class based crossover-coupe, a sporty SUV to rival the BMW X6 that has previously been referred to as the MLC, remains to be seen.

However, the MLC will reportedly carry the GLE Coupe name into showrooms, while the replacement for the mid-size GLK will be called the GLC, reflecting the similarly sized C-Class upon which it's based.

Presumably, therefore, a sportier version of the GLC, to rival the BMW X4, will be called the GLC Coupe.

Such changes in naming convention are not unprecedented, as Mercedes changed the CLK-Class to the E-Class Coupe a few years ago, and more recently ditched the CL-Class name for S-Class Coupe.

The M-Class (aka ML) has been around for almost 20 years, and is currently the third best-selling Mercedes-Benz vehicle in Australia so far in 2014, with 1683 sales, a 10.5 per cent increase on last year.

The best-selling Benz in Australia in 2014 so far is the A-Class with 2945 sales, followed by the C-Class with 2522 units registered.