Gorden Wagener, chief design officer at Daimler, says journalists are the only ones criticising Mercedes-Benz for its so-called cookie-cutter design approach to sedan styling, saying that “the customer loves it”.
Speaking to Australian journalists after the recent reveal of the new-generation A-Class, Wagener said that the Stuttgart-based brand “harmonises” its three traditional sedans – the C-Class, E-Class and S-Class – “very consciously”.
“The C-Class, E-Class and S-Class limousines are very homogenous. Only a few journalists mention that our three limousines are too close to each other, but the customer loves it. You look at our [sales] numbers and I think … this has been a very successful decision,” Wagener said, according to GoAuto.
“It’s a typical journalist question, but the customer loves it,” he added, this time according to CarAdvice.
Wagener went on to point out that the brand had played around with different design elements on other vehicles.
“Outside that range we play with different things. The reversed grille used as the Panamericana on our AMG GT. The predator face comes on two cars, this one [the new A-Class] and the CLS,” he told GoAuto.
“The thinking was the A-Class is our most progressive car, the CLS the same, so that’s why that kind of face is first of all dedicated to these kind of cars and it’s not dedicated, for instance, to a C-Class. That will have a different face,” he said, echoing comments made in an earlier report.
