Mercedes-Benz is set to slash the number of body styes it offers across its range, with convertibles, coupes, and wagons in the firing line.
A new report from Car and Driver references “several top managers” at Mercedes-Benz, who confirmed “we simply don’t need estate cars [wagons] or underperforming two-door offerings to boost volumes”.
The report quotes a “senior member” of the Mercedes-Benz strategy team, who said “the most essential elements of sustainable contemporary luxury cars are space and time”.
“That’s our number one priority—not another fancy body style, a model that only works in Europe, or one last stab at a dying segment,” they said.
We already know the C-Class and E-Class coupe/convertible ranges will meld into a new line dubbed CLE, but the Car and Driver report claims the range rationalisation will extend much further.
It says coupe-styled versions of the GLC and GLE SUVs will be axed at the end of their next generations, while the style-oriented, four-door CLS and AMG GT models will die in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Also in the firing line, according to Car and Driver, are wagons of all shapes and sizes. The report claims the C-Class estate will die in 2028, while the current CLA Shooting Brake will be the last.
The final Mercedes-Benz wagon, according to the report, will be the next-generation E-Class estate.
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Upcoming GLC coupe -
Mercedes-Benz has been talking about limiting the number of niche vehicles it offers for some time now.
Reports from January 2022 foreshadowed the end for wagons with the three-pointed star on their nose, and the axe has already swung through the SLC and the S-Class convertible and coupe.
It’s not all doom and gloom for two-door diehards, though. The Mercedes-Benz SL has recently been revealed, and there’s a new AMG GT coming built on the same platform.
