C-Class: "most important ever"

Is the Mercedes C-Class the most eagerly awaited new car launch this year? It is at Mercedes Australia! In fact, the new luxury medium car (W204 in Benz speak), the maker says, is its most important launch ever.

The statement was made loud and proud by local Benz boss, Horst van Sanden at the car's local Melbourne launch yesterday.

"The number of Australian customers that want this type of car make the new C-Class our most important launch ever," van Sanden said.

Indeed, in a market that's physically downsizing but is keen to keep all the mod-cons full-size prestige cars offer, the medium luxury segment is set to become an ever hotter battleground. Thus on the broader, more S-Class like shoulders of the new C-Class rests the responsibility of taking on Mercedes-Benz's number one thorn in the side, BMW's 3 Series -- and with it, largely the fortunes of Mercedes Australia.

In the race to being the most successful luxury brand Down Under, it's 3 Series that separates Benz from the top step of the podium. Even putting 3 Series Coupe aside, four-door versus four-door, the Bavarian significantly outsells the C-Class.

With the W204, Mercedes is hoping to reverse that situation. To do so, however, the car will have to sell significantly better than the model it replaces and reverse two decades of history.

Mercedes' best C-Class year saw around 4900 of the cars sold. Last year BMW sold in excess of 6000 3 Series sedans and wagons, with two-doors accounting for another 1200 units or thereabouts.

"It is our aim to win the leadership position in this sector," van Sanden said. "That's a pretty tall order given the strong performance of our competition but we have a very special product and a very special strategy."

Benz's strategy in terms of product has been to transform the C-Class into a much more sporting drive.

Further, the car now offers two quite different faces -- a traditional look via the Classic and Elegance trim grades and the significantly more youthful sportscar-oriented three-pointed-star-in-grille look of the Avantgarde models. It's this variant with which van Sanden hopes to lower the average age of C-Class buyers -- currently near 50!

The carmaker's strategy in pricing meantime is to deliver the best equipped base model C-Class ever -- at a price that undercuts the competitive run-out pricing that waved goodbye to the W203 model.

Specification adjusted, even Benz's competition estimate the new W204 offers around $8000-10,000 worth of extra value over the outgoing model. Note too that the entry-level model is now a '200' -- no longer does Mercedes offer the C 180K

We've amassed a significant amount of pre local launch information on the new C-Class range. There's pricing information here and an international launch review here. Look for our local launch information to round out the coverage soon.

Meantime, to cover off the main points again, the new range will initially be available in sedan only with the entry-level C200 Kompressor featuring a revised supercharged petrol four-cylinder engine, the tweaked turbodiesel-powered C220 CDI and the C280 with petrol V6.

The high-performance C63 AMG (more here) will follow later this year and there's rumours another diesel will also join the range. There's a wagon version on the way but the two-door Sports Coupe variant will likely not arrive until later in 2008.

The revised, supercharged 200K engine develops up to 12.5 per cent more power than its counterpart in the superseded W203 models. It's also up to six per cent more economical. The C220 CDI diesel engine is both smoother and quieter in the new car and develops 125kW -- a 5kW improvement on the old model's output -- and torque is up substantially from 340 to 400Nm.

New features proffered as standard in the C-Class include Agility Control (which is a mechanically actuated adaptive damping system) and Adaptive Brake, which bundles functions that take care of brake priming, automated hill starts and brake rotor drying in wet weather.

Mercedes-Benz has also built on the C-Class reputation for crash safety with eight airbags as standard, two of which are adaptive (front passenger and driver's) as well as delivering Pre-Safe as standard across the C-Class range -- a first for the segment.

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