In the spring of 2023, Mercedes will unveil the sixth-generation E-Class. Could this be the last version before the disappearance of the species under the battering of the EQE? Let’s not wait and let’s take stock!
Thirty years after the W124, the sixth-generation Mercedes E-Class will make its appearance in the spring of 2023. But today what remains of the business sedan, the historic pillar of the manufacturer’s range with the star? This E-Class, coded internally W214 would it be the der of the ders? Because at this level of range, the Mercedes E-Class is jostled from all sides.
EQE, the all but phantom threat
The tapered Mercedes EQE sedan (see opposite) steals the show purely electric propulsion issue and will face the Audi A6 e-tron and BMW i5. While the GLE and GLE Coupé SUVs have already stolen many customers. In 2021, 1,730 E-Classes were sold on the French market, there were 4,390 in 2019. Yet Mercedes will not give up and will offer, always in continuity, an E-Class which will maintain its rank and its central role, harmoniously inserted between the Class C and Class S.
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A consensual style for the E-Class
Aesthetically, the Mercedes E-Class will remain faithful to the traditional three-box silhouette, leaving the arc drawn in one piece from the windshield to the stern to the EQE sedan. The designers have carefully refined the headlights, optimized the contours of the grille and at the rear, triangulated the lights even more to horizontalize the stern and visually refine the lines. Aerodynamics have not been forgotten, however, as evidenced by the flush handles inaugurated, on the upper floor, by his majesty S-Class. E to compete with its tricolor competitor the DS9.
TO READ. DS9 (2021). It challenges the Mercedes E-Class, the benchmark road car
But unlike the latter, which is limited to a sedan body, the Mercedes E-Class will always retain a station wagon, also available as an adventurer called All-Terrain. The long-wheelbase sedan favored by the Chinese market will also remain in the game. A plurality necessary for the survival of this road. On the other hand, for coupes and convertibles, it is a new CLE which should land. Its ambition will be to replace both the C-Class derived models and those based on the E-Class, in the style of the defunct CLK. A way to maintain an offer in these segments despite the lack of customer enthusiasm.
The S-Class comes to the rescue?
As in the new S-Class (photo), the Mercedes E-Class will adopt a vertical format OLED type touch screen. Equipment that makes the success of … Tesla.
To each their own digital territory! If the Mercedes EQS and EQE impress us with their fully digital “T” dashboard, the Mercedes E-Class will come out of the mold with a simple vertical central slab in the spirit of what we find on board Teslas. But it is also and above all the architecture that was inaugurated in the range by the S-Class in 2021. This device allows a more refined aerial style, while OLED technology optimizes contrast as well as the responsiveness of touch controls.
And in front of the driver, the digital handset will have 3D technology whose display adapts to the position of the eyes. No more tiles in a row (see the photo gallery) since copied by many brands, including generalists. Like its big sister, the Mercedes E-Class will benefit from a leading technological arsenal for safety but also autonomous driving. Enough to increase the call price around €60,000.
The end of diesel…in plug-in hybrid
Under the hood we will of course be waiting for the new Mercedes E-Class in the field of rechargeable hybridization now with the only possible association: gasoline and electric. The diesel hybrid, a technology of which the brand with the star still retains a variant in the catalog today, will no longer be on the program in the future. So the 300 version with 306 hp is over, while the 300 e – which today has a total power of 320 hp – should be able to count on a range of 100 km in electric mode. The thermal offer will always include essential petrol and diesel blocks from the heart of the range on all the world markets to which the Mercedes E-Class is a long-time regular. But for purists who swear by large displacements, this may very well turn into a cold shower. The V8 should no longer be part of the game and the six-cylinder are also threatened. Should we therefore expect a radical AMG four-cylinder version? It’s a step that the brand is already preparing to take on the C-Class, so nothing is impossible…
