Next E-Class on severe diet: Benz development boss

The head of Mercedes-Benz Cars Development reckons engineers can conservatively knock 100kg off the kerb mass of each new generation of car they develop. 

To illustrate how that will pan out, Thomas Weber cited the next generation of the company's mid-size E-Class sedan when he spoke with motoring.com.au during the Frankfurt motor show last week.

"With the upcoming new E-Class — that's the new E-Class in 2016 — we will set ourselves a target to reduce the weight, comparable to the E-Class today by a magnitude of 150 to 200 kilos."

Currently, the automotive industry is going through a transitional period in vehicle development — and that's particularly true of prestige car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz. Weber says that his company has halted the apparently endless cycle of weight gain in each new generation of product as new safety measures took their toll.

"Year by year we added weight to the car," he said, but environmental concerns in recent years have driven the car companies to compensate for the weight gain. If one could graph the progress made in materials technology against the impact of mandated safety measures, it would show that the materials technologists are finally winning the fight, or the safety legislators have given up. The two lines on the graph have reached an intersecting point.

But it's not just a question of finding the right materials for vehicle construction, says Weber, it's also a matter of using it appropriately.

"We believe, as we have learned in the aluminium field, very often the best result is possible [by combining] the right material in the right place," he explained.

In the race to pull weight out of the E-Class, all of Benz's engineers have a filly in the field, says Weber.

"Our lightweight strategy is definitely not limited to the body of the car," he said. "To reduce the weight of the car is, especially in our organisation, a task for everybody.

"Tyre, windshield, each component; we have defined as part of our module strategy about 100 key modules. We have addressed for the next generation cars a 20 per cent target as an average. So there are some areas where we can find 25 or 30, some 10 — and the body by itself... we are looking for 30..."

Just taking 30 per cent of the weight out of the body won't reduce the vehicle's overall kerb mass by up to 200kg it seems, which leaves Benz no choice but for engineers in other 'modules' to cut weight — and that has all sorts of ramifications according to Weber.

"That leads to the discussion of downsizing; substituting a V6 with an inline four. In Europe we will see in some years from now about 90 per cent inline four-cylinder engines. That is a huge transition... that will help us on the weight side and the fuel consumption side."

The migration to smaller engines has already begun and Benz is by no means the only exponent in Europe. Weber believes the added cost implicit in developing cars along these more sophisticated lines can be kept low with more efficient production methods. And as for the module strategy, the new compact car, based on the new B-Class platform is the company's first attempt to put this method into practice. So it's happening...

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