E-Class Coupe arriving in August

The E-Class Coupe is a car that you just want to touch. That's the word from Senior Manager Corporate Communications for Mercedes-Benz Australia, David McCarthy.

"In the flesh, the car is stunning," he told the Carsales Network. "Style is a very subjective thing [but] it's one of those cars -- I judge whether a car really turns me on by whether I want to touch it -- and I wanted to touch the flanks and the curves. The Coupe did that for me."

Even from the pictures, the car's razor-sharp sculpture lines seems to invite getting up close and personal. Sporting the angular frontal styling of the new E-Class sedan, the Coupe has been wind tunnel-tested for an aerodynamic drag coefficient of 0.24Cd -- a figure that Benz claims is the world's best figure achieved by a series-production car.

Mercedes-Benz will introduce the E-Class Coupe to the world at the Geneva Auto Salon in March, three months after the company revealed the four-door variants at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Under the new corporate E-Class look inherited from the sedan, the Coupe is actually built on what amounts to a unique platform, combining some elements of the E-Class with some from the C-Class.

"I wouldn't describe it as a 'stretched C' -- it is a combination of the two," says McCarthy. "It is a new platform, so it's not like a C-Class that's modified or an E-Class that's shrunk. It is a new platform and it has bits of both in it."

And that's a small but important consideration. The new car will be marketed as an E-Class variant, whereas the CLK range it will replace was a stand-alone car, yet still drawing on both the larger 'E' and smaller 'C' models for styling and engineering, respectively. Benz intends for the two-door 'E' to project more interior room than the CLK does, although the company is careful not to say exactly that.

"Not everything in that segment is a proper four-seater," says McCarthy. "Now I've sat in the car -- I've actually sat 'behind' myself -- and that's not something that normally you associate with coupes."

Typically, accommodation in coupes is a matter of compromise, with front-seat passengers sitting further forward than is entirely comfortable, to allow more legroom for rear-seat occupants.

Based on the external dimensions, the E-Class Coupe could fill a gap between archrival BMW's 3 Series coupe and 6 Series models. While MB probably wouldn't consider Audi's A5/S5 models to be competitors to the E-Class Coupe, sharp pricing could be attractive for those who are currently considering one of the Audi coupes.

As to whether there are other reasons beyond size for Benz to rest the CLK in favour of the E-Class Coupe, McCarthy believes it allows the manufacturer the flexibility of offering two coupes at some indeterminate point in the future.

"The people that buy an E-Class Coupe are also the sort of people who potentially might have bought an E-Class sedan," he said. "It does leave open the possibility in the future for a smaller coupe than the E-Class Coupe to be produced.

"I would not be surprised if a year and a half or two years down the track there was a coupe that was smaller than an E-Class Coupe."

That would be a vehicle to slot between the larger E-Class model and the W203-based CLC hatch.

As for the E-Class sedan, the Coupe adopts leading edge safety features and lifts the bar for fuel efficiency. According to Benz estimates, the E-Class Coupe's powerplants will be 17 per cent more fuel-efficient on average, and still produce more power and torque.

Two turbodiesels have been confirmed for Australia: the 220 CDI turbocharged four and the all-new 500Nm twin-turbo 250 CDI -- also a four-cylinder. This direct-injection engine produces 150kW of power and uses 5.3L/100km of fuel in combined-cycle testing. Peak torque is available across a range of engine speeds from 1800 to 2800rpm.

Three petrol engines are also confirmed: a four, a six and an eight. The four is the new 250 CGI turbocharged direct-injected four-cylinder that will also appear as the base engine in the E-Class sedan. It develops 150kW of power and 310Nm of torque. The torque peaks between 2000 and 4300rpm. Combined-cycle testing for this engine yields a fuel consumption figure of 7.2L/100km.

Also featuring direct petrol injection but naturally-aspirated, the petrol V6 coming to Australia produces 365Nm of torque between the engine speeds of 3000 to 5100rpm and 215kW of power. Fuel consumption is 8.5L/100km.

A 285kW petrol V8 tops the range, producing 530Nm of torque between 2800 and 4800rpm. Fuel consumption for this engine is as low as 10.9L/100km.

Benz engineers have gone with standard 'Agility Control' suspension for the E-Class Coupe, complementing the Dynamic Driving system, which is exclusive to the Coupe. This provides the driver with the facility to adjust the suspension calibration at whim.

It's not certain whether we'll see road-sign recognition in the E-Class Coupe when it arrives in Australia, since the same facility in the latest BMW 7 Series has been held up because of the lack of uniformity in our speed limit signs around the country, but Benz is offering it as a feature in the car for international markets at least. Another safety aid is Attention Assist, which monitors the driver for fatigue, through steering wheel inputs from the driver. Also contributing to the defence against fatigue is Adaptive Main Beam Assist, which ensures the driver is provided with the right level of lighting for the road conditions and prevailing traffic. It progressively adjusts the lighting to a range of as much as 300m on high beam.

In addition to these features, the E-Class Coupe will be available with active cruise control, Brake Assist Plus and Pre-Safe safety systems. Once the car has actually cannoned into something hard, occupants will be protected by seven airbags -- including a kneebag for the driver -- seatbelt pretensioners, force limiters and active head restraints. For those who walk in front of an E-Class Coupe while it's still in motion, there is a spring-loaded bonnet to raise the rear section by 50mm within a fraction of a second.

In keeping with Benz tradition, the E-Class Coupe will be very well appointed. It will be sold in two levels of trim (Elegance and Avantgarde) when it arrives here in August -- about three months after its on-sale date in Europe. The importer will reveal pricing and full specification for the local market closer to launch.