Split rollout for fresh Benz E-Class in Australia

Update, February 26: Latest word from Mercedes-Benz Australia is that the E 220 CDI is also confirmed for Australia. And Benz has brought forward the local market introduction of the sedans and wagons to May, with just the E 400 and E 63 held over until August. There are orders in hand already and the production allocation will be sufficient to mount a launch three months earlier. Coupe and cabriolet models that were to be launched here later still are now to be introduced with the high performance models in August. Adaptive High Beam Assist Plus will be standard on Australian-delivered E 400 and E 63, optional for other models in the range.

Mercedes-Benz Australia will bring the comprehensively upgraded E-Class to our shores in August.

The full range of sedans and wagons will be immediately available – including the E63 – but buyers in the market for the coupe and cabriolet models will have to wait "another couple of months," according to David McCarthy, Senior Manager Corporate Communications at Mercedes-Benz Australia.

Both two-door models will definitely arrive in Australia before the end of 2013 though, Mr McCarthy assured Aussie journalists in Spain to drive the new E-Class.

The Australian-delivered E 63 will certainly be offered with the 430kW V8 announced in S Line form, but the lower output (410kW) version will also be available, priced accordingly. Mr McCarthy is convinced the 430kW version will be the more popular variant however.

The higher-performance engine's power and torque will be channelled through the rear wheels only, since the all-wheel drive system to be offered with this engine in left-hand drive markets would have to share under-bonnet space with the right-hook steering column. 

The E-Class range will kick off in Australia with the E 200 petrol sedan, with the E 250 (petrol and diesel for the sedan, diesel only for the wagon) next rung up the ladder.

The E 300, the new diesel/electric hybrid model that has received rave reviews from journalists who have already driven it, will slot in between E 250 diesel and E 350 diesel in the range, providing buyers with an alternative to conventional diesel power that's even kinder to the environment.

However, Benz will ditch both the E 350 petrol V6 and E 500 petrol V8 models from the new range, Mr McCarthy confirmed.

The importer will keep the E 350 diesel and complement it at the high end of the range with the new turbo-V6 E 400, which will straddle the market niches previously occupied by E 350 petrol and E 500. The E 63 remains the flagship of the range.

Clearly the local arm of the prestige brand has been doing some soul-searching to determine the optimal composition of the model walk-up for the new E-Class.

"Wagon is a difficult one to keep in the range, because of the volume," Mr McCarthy admitted. But the wagon will be sticking around in the new range to appease the "loyal buyers".

"We're still sorting out what petrol engine we'll put in the wagon," he told Aussie journalists, but a few hours later word came through that the only petrol engine in the wagon will be the turbo V6 of the E 400.

That leaves just two variants of the wagon to be offered in Australia: the E 400 and the entry-level E 250 diesel – if one excludes the E 63 wagon. At present MB Australia is undecided about the high-performance wagon continuing to be part of the locally-delivered range, since the prestige importer has sold just five units to date. 

Mr McCarthy wouldn't discuss pricing for the E-Class, other than to describe it as "assertive".

"If there's an increase at all it will be very small," he said, "and there'll be an equipment increase to go with it."

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