DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: New Benz C-Class leaked

The most important new Mercedes-Benz of 2014 has been laid bare, courtesy of these images leaked by Spanish automotive website Diariomotor.

Mercedes has already begun the slow-release campaign for its next-generation C-Class sedan, which will make its official world debut at the Detroit motor show in January, by revealing first interior images and the first teaser video earlier this month.

Some technical details of the W205-series C-Class, which has been spied several times have also been announced, but this is the first look at the exterior of the production C-Class.

While the interior of the new C-Class, which goes on sale in Australia in the third quarter of next year, borrows heavily from the new S-Class limousine (on sale here in December) in terms of both technology and design, the exterior appears to resemble that of the smaller CLA sedan.

Apart from similar proportions, the new C-Class wears a rounded roofline, sloping rear-end and body side sculpting like the CLA’s, plus headlights that incorporate an upper row of LED running lights and bookend a huge chromed grille - with three bars on the Elegance variant and two bars incorporating a three-pointed star badge on the Avantgarde variant, as pictured here.

However, unlike the CLA sedan, which like the A-Class is based on the front/all-wheel drive MFA platform, the next C-Class will ride on Merc’s rear/all-wheel drive MRA chassis architecture, which shares some components with the E- and S-Class and will also underpin the MkII GLK SUV.

In the first in a series of technical briefings for the new C-Class recently, Mercedes said a new aluminium-steel hybrid construction will make it the lightest and stiffest vehicle in its class, with a 70kg-light body resulting in weight savings of up to 100kg on some variants – despite growing in length by about 90mm.

A wheelbase rumoured to be up to 100mm longer than before at around 2850mm will also help to differentiate it from the CLA, which is actually 40mm longer than the existing C-Class sedan.

This time around, Mercedes’ direct rival for the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 will grow to become a four-model family, including sedan, wagon, coupe and, by 2015, five-door hatchback derivatives – the latter a direct response to the 3 Series GT and Audi A5 Sportback.

Official interior images show the next volume-selling Benz sedan will take a significant step upmarket inside, where it will present luxurious new details such as a trio of retro-styled round chromed air-vents in the centre stack, a more advanced COMAND infotainment system and a new Lexus-style central controller with fingertip-controlled touch-pad and free-standing colour monitors measuring either 7.0 or 8.4 inches.

A host of new driver aids will include a BMW-style head-up display, a front passenger seat that automatically switches off the airbag if it detects a child seat and a new air-conditioning system that automatically recirculates air if the GPS system detects a tunnel to keep exhaust fumes out.

In Europe, expect a new line-up of longitudinally mounted 1.6- and 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engines from the transverse-engined A-, B- and CLA-Class, plus 2.0- and 2.2-litre turbo-diesels.

Six-cylinder engine options are expected to continue in the form of the 3.5-litre petrol V6-powered C 350, the turbocharged 3.0-litre petrol V6-equipped C 400 BlueEFFICIENCY and the C 350 CDI, with the latest 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6.

Naturally, V8 power will continue in the next C 63 AMG range-topper, while the new C-Class will not only be the first to offer hybrid power, but the first Mercedes sedan to be offered in right-hand drive form with 4MATIC all-wheel drive.

No details have been confirmed for Australia, but some models are also expected to come with the German car-maker’s new 9G-TRONIC nine-speed automatic transmission, which was revealed at the recent Frankfurt motor show, with others to follow at midlife facelift time around 2017.

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