Mercedes reveals new C-Class Coupe

The sedan version of the new C-Class won the World Car of the Year trophy in a canter. It wowed critics with its step-change interior design and quality, and it looks a lot more premium than the mid-size luxury sedan it succeeded.

Yet one thing it doesn't manage to do is look fast. Even the C 63 AMG versions of the sedan carry the narrow-tail look with the scalloped sides and the family face.

That’s about to change, with Benz once again turning the Coupe version of the C-Class into the range hottie, in terms of both dynamics and design.

Pictured here for the first time, the new C-Class Coupe looks like a small version of the S-Class Coupe, a monstrously large two-door hard-top that had every excuse to be a design failure and ended up a triumph.

It’s also slippery, with Benz claiming a 0.26 Cd drag coefficient, which helps it reduce fuel consumption by an average of no less than 20 per cent.

Due to make its world public premiere – including in range-topping AMG C 63 form – at next month's Frankfurt motor show before arriving Down Under in mid-2016, the new C-Class Coupe will also bring a more dynamic version of the C-Class’s chassis and, for those who want more, optional air suspension.

It’s lighter than its predecessor, Benz says, (though it won’t give a figure) and there is a higher proportion of aluminium than ever before, including the front guards, the bonnet and the bootlid.

It’s a step up in space as well as speed from its predecessor, with 95mm more overall length and 40mm more width and with Mercedes claiming more head, shoulder and elbow room in every one of its four seats.

The wheelbase is 80mm longer, too, and 60mm of that is between the firewall and the front axle.

Like its predecessor, the front suspension architecture was fiddled by AMG, even for the mainstream Coupe range, and it’s delivered a four-link front axle with the wheel’s suspension pieces decoupled from the spring strut. Benz insists this delivers it greater steering accuracy and sensitivity and more agility. It certainly did last time around.

The rear-end remains a five-link arrangement, which wasn’t heftily re-evaluated from the sedan, and it’s all based around a pair of steel spring arrangements that each pull the Coupe’s body 15mm lower than the sedan’s.

The first of these set-ups is directed at the comfortable end of sportiness, while the second is tauter and includes the Direct Steer system for added crispness in bends.

The steel-sprung units ride on 17-inch wheels and tyres, though there will be the same options as the sedan, so expect them to ride on anything up to 20-inch wheels.

On top of that is the Airmatic air suspension, which is fitted to both axles in place of the steel springs. The continuously variable, electronically controlled system can be swapped through five driving modes, ranging from Eco to Comfort to Sport to Sport+ and to the customisable Individual mode.

While AMG is doing its own thing with a sleeker-looking version of the C 63 Sedan, there will be four petrol engines and two diesels in the mainstream Benz versions.

The most powerful of the coupes will be the C 300, with 180kW of power, followed by the C 250 and its 155kW and then the C 200 with 135kW. All three use basically the same 2.0-litre four-cylinder direct-injection turbo-petrol motor, though a 1.6-litre turbo four powers the entry-level 115kW C 180.

The C 220d and C 250d diesels deliver a respective 125kW and 150kW via their four-cylinder engines, both measuring 2143cc.

The new C-Class Coupe interior carries over much of the standard-setting equipment, materials and fit of the sedan, but with a slightly sportier look. The most outstanding difference between the coupe and the sedan is the coupe-specific seats, which include an automatic seat belt feeder.

Like the sedan, the coupe’s sat-nav tells the air-conditioner when it’s entering and exiting tunnels, so it automatically switches its recirculating air on and off.

The safety package includes all of the sedan’s electronic aids, plus adaptive front airbags, a driver’s kneebag, front thorax/pelvis bags for side impact protection, and optional rear sidebags.