With the automotive world still arguing about the pointlessness of BMW's X6, along comes Mercedes-Benz with its own swoopy SUV. Admittedly the Swabians insist theirs is different.
Mercedes-Benz is almost guaranteed to bring its Beijing Motor Show-stopping Concept Coupé SUV into production within a year, sources at the premium German carmaker have insisted.
The swoopy-looking soft-road monster is dominated by its long, sleek roofline, even as it sits on the M-Class architecture. Benz is positioning the 4.9-metre Concept Coupé SUV as the M-Class’s extension of the strategy it has already used to turn the conventional E-Class into the sleeker CLS and morph the A-Class hatch into the CLA coupe-sedan.
Mercedes-Benz sources refused to be drawn into comparisons with its Bavarian rival, even though the X6 has been on sale so long it’s less than a year from replacement, while the production version of the smaller, but similarly themed X3-based X4 Coupe SUV was shown to the world at last week’s New York International Auto Show.
While it seems to be very late in the Coupe SUV cycle to be claiming a leadership role, sources at Mercedes instead claimed it was following its own path and its Concept Coupé SUV owed nothing whatsoever to the success of the X6 in North America and, oddly, Italy.
"It's sensual as a coupe, visionary as an SUV," Mercedes-Benz's Head of Design, Gorden Wagener, insisted.
“The Concept Coupé SUV stands out thanks to its extreme proportions and in doing so interprets our hallmark Mercedes coupé design idiom perfectly.
“With its superior sportiness it conveys a sense of modern luxury and aesthetic aspirations of sensual clarity.”
Its body is defined not only by its roofline, but also by its door handles which are inset into the bodywork and its frameless windows, plus its enormous width and flared wheelarches.
Mercedes-Benz has intentionally given the Concept Coupé SUV its sportier-style, single-bar grille, flanked by a pair of full LED multi-beam headlights and a relatively short front overhang. It also introduces LED indicators that light up in sequence to point the way for following cars to see. Well, it introduces it to Mercedes-Benz, anyway - it has been in production at Audi since the last R8 facelift and is available on the new TT.
Almost comically, Mercedes-Benz is claiming a leadership role in coupe-style SUVs, pointing to its work with the CLS to shore up the shaky claim.
“Developing and creating new model families and vehicle classes has traditionally been one of the strengths of Mercedes-Benz, the inventor of the automobile,” it insisted.
“This is particularly obvious in the history of its coupés, and most especially in the very recent past. Models such as the four-door Coupés or the Shooting Brakes in the CLS-Class have not only created completely new vehicle classes, but have also had a lasting influence on the model policies of different manufacturers, found numerous imitators and proved to be an outstanding sales success.”
So, Mercedes-Benz isn’t just claiming a leadership role in the Coupe SUV field, but is intimating that others will copy it…
Powered by the new twin-turbocharged, direct-injection petrol engine from the new C400 sedan, it has 245kW of power at 5500rpm and 480Nm of torque from 1400rpm to 4000rpm.
Hooked up to the M-Class’s standard 4Matic all-wheel drive, it moves the game forward by introducing a nine-speed automatic transmission to improve performance and lower fuel consumption. No heavier than the existing seven-speed transmission that is spread thinly across the Mercedes-Benz brand, the nine-speed unit will find its way across all rear-drive Mercs in the next round of facelifts.