DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: Mercedes-Benz unwraps E-Class Coupe

The ever-expanding Mercedes-Benz E-Class range is about to get bigger again with the German premium giant officially taking the wraps off its E-Class Coupe ahead a world debut at the Detroit motor show in January.

First seen in leaked brochure images over the weekend, the two-door, four-seat hard-top will join the E-Class sedan, wagon and the just-launched All-Terrain crossover next year and is also expected to be joined by a convertible in 2018 or 2019.

The replacement for the current E-Class Coupe (this time actually based on the E-Class), sees Mercedes-Benz continue to match arch-rival BMW – which offers 2, 4 and 6 Series coupes – in delivering the broadest passenger car-based coupe footprint, with hard-top two-door versions of the C-, E- and S-Classes. Not counting the Mercedes-AMG rivalling R8, Audi has just the A5 Coupe.

"With its clear, aesthetic lines, our new E-Class Coupe appeals equally to heart and mind,” claimed Professor Doctor Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and responsible for Group Research and Mercedes-Benz Cars Development.

“It condenses contemporary luxury, agile sportiness and high-tech engineering into an automotive personality with esprit, offering exclusive, refined driving pleasure.”

Besides all of that, it’s also the last car Dr Weber will lead into production, with the lead engineer (who is often seen in the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 garage with Dieter Zetsche) retiring at the end of this year, to be replaced by ex-AMG boss Ola Kälenius.

It will adopt the powertrain choices from the E-Class sedan and estate ranges, too, along with its three-chamber air suspension system, part-autonomous driving technology, widescreen cockpit layout and smartphone integration.

It’s a far longer, wider car, with more interior space, than its predecessor, and well it should be. The old E-Class Coupe was actually a C-Class wearing E-Class lookalike clothes, while this one is actually based on this year's new E-Class range.

It’s 4826mm long, 1860mm wide and 1430mm high, though perhaps the key handling-related dimension is that the 1605mm front and 1609mm rear tracks mean the front wheels sit 67mm further apart than before, while the rear wheels are 68mm further apart.

Almost 200mm shorter than the S-Class Coupe, the new E-Class Coupe is 123mm longer than its predecessor, with 113mm of that coming from within the wheelbase. It’s also 74mm wider and 32mm higher.

Benz claims most of the gains in wheelbase and height have been given over to the rear-seat occupants, who were very much the poor relations last time around. It insists full-size adults can sit comfortably in the rear for extended periods thanks to a 74mm increase in legroom and a 15mm jump in headroom.

The front-end might not have won the arguments over legroom (and didn’t need to, frankly), but they won all the others. Front-seat passengers get an 18mm rise in headroom, a 50mm lift in shoulder space (the rear seats get a lift of only 34mm) and 38mm more elbow room (versus 13mm more in the rear).

It will launch with three petrol engines and a single diesel, giving it a power range from 135kW to 245kW, though a thicker soup of engines will follow, as will all-wheel drive versions.

The heaviest hitter will be the 3.0-litre turbo-petrol V6-powered E 400 4MATIC, with 245kW of power and 480Nm, pushing the coupe to 100km/h in 5.3 seconds and posting an NEDC figure of 8.1L/100km.

It’s backed up by E 200 and E 300, which share the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine. The E 200 uses a 135kW/300Nm version of it to post NEDC numbers of 6.0L/100km and a 0-100km/h sprint time of 7.8 seconds, while the E 300 gets 180kW/370Nm and cuts the sprint to 6.4 seconds.

The new modular four-cylinder diesel turbo delivers 143kW of power and 400Nm and, with a 7.4-second sprint, it’s not the slowest of the coupes, either. It slashes the fuel consumption to 4.0L/100km for a CO2 figure of 106g/km.

All of them use nine-speed automatic transmissions, while the coupe’s ride height has been lowered by 15mm over the sedan.

The frameless side windows and long bonnet give a visual emphasis on the cab-back proportions, while Benz’s design team has given it a uniquely squat and muscular rear end.

It will also debut a new welcome light in the tail-lights, in addition to the new-normal ones in the side mirrors. The LED tail-lights illuminate progressively from the centre of the car whenever the doors are unlocked, then reverse the process to say goodbye whenever it is locked again.

Top-end versions of the E-Coupe will also be standard with LED multibeam headlights, along with the sedan’s two high-resolution 12.3-inch displays linked together to emphasise the car’s width.

Like the sedans, the layout can be switched between standard, sport and 'progressive' display designs, depending on the mood, and the interior’s LED moodlights can slide through all colours of the rainbow and a range of brightness levels.