What's the news?
Mercedes-Benz will debut two significant new models at the Geneva motor show - the second generation CLA Shooting Brake, and the EQV, an all-electric version of the V-Class MPV. Or is it?
The badge would seem to suggest so, and the expectation had been that Mercedes would bring a battery-powered V-Class (based on the electric version of the Viano van) to Geneva, but in its press notes for the event, Mercedes says that the EQV is: “the world's first SUV in the premium segment with purely battery-electric drive. The near-series concept vehicle combines locally emission-free mobility with impressive performance, maximum functionality and aesthetic design.”
An SUV? The V-Class certainly isn’t an SUV, so either there’s an entirely new model waiting in the wings, or Mercedes is fudging its vehicle definitions to try and make a van-based people carrier more appealing to buyers.
The CLA Shooting Brake is a little more straightforward - it’s the second generation of the sporty small estate, which like the new CLA (and like the rather-to-similar-for-comfort A-Class Saloon) will be based on the same NGCC (New Generation Compact Car) architecture that’s under the A-Class hatchback and B-Class MPV.
Mercedes says that it gets a major boost in terms of cabin space and practicality, thanks to the new platform, and that it: “reinterprets the design idiom of sensual purity, and turns the interior into a cool and stylish user interface for intelligent digital technology. It features the very latest driving assistance systems with cooperative driver support, and thus provides the highest level of active safety in this segment with functions adopted from the S‑Class.”
Also on the stand will be an updated and facelifted version of the V-Class (which gets new engines and which Mercedes is very definitely calling an MPV) as well as an updated and facelifted version of the GLC SUV. There will also be an AMG version of the GLE large SUV (the GLE 53 AMG, using the new inline-six mild-hybrid AMG engine), and special editions of the SL and SLC sports cars, and final version of the mighty S65 AMG, which will be the last time we see a humungous V12 engine in the S-Class luxury car.
Mercedes will also be bringing along its Formula E electric race car, and there will be a new concept car from Smart called the Smart Forease +, which will also debut Smart’s new set of urban mobility services including car sharing and courier deliveries.