Someone in Mercedes’ PR department is frantically rooting through the piles of paper on their desk… Meanwhile, a suspicious camera-toting “Janitor” chuckles malevolently in the hallway. Yes, there’s been a leak at Mercedes and it grants us our first proper look at the eagerly anticipated new C-Class.
By Gareth Dean
An official brochure for the 2008 Mercedes-Benz C-Class has been leaked ahead of the car’s official release this week. Having been teased to distraction with spy photos of heavily duct-taped test vehicles and artist renderings, this brochure appears to offer a genuine look at the car with which the Stuttgart marque will take the fight to BMW’s current World Car of the Year, the (E90) 3 Series.
The pictures show the new C-class to be a more angular, aggressive looking car than its bulbous predecessor with a neat shoulder crease running the length of the car, a steeply-raked roofline and prominent grille treatment.
The interior pictures allude to a car that is comfort-orientated and technologically well-equipped, although the pop-up satellite navigation screen will probably meet with a mixed reception.
Looking at the pictures featured, it appears that the nose treatment of the comfort-orientated Elegance model features a subtle, un-badged chrome grille treatment while (what is assumed to be) the sportier Avantgarde model has a more aggressive slatted grille with the three-pointed star proudly on display.
Although it is purely conjecture at the moment, the petrol engine lineup may consist of a base level 1,8 litre 4-cylinder in the 110-140 kW region, a 170 kW 2,8 litre V6 C280 and a 200 kW 3,5 litre V6 C350.
The fire breather of the range could be a 283 kW 5,5 litre V8 C55 AMG or even a C63 AMG featuring the marque’s monstrous 354 kW 6,2-litre V8 a year or so after the main launch. It would be fairly safe to say that these powerplants will be mated with Mercedes’ 7-speed automatic transmission.
Many markets will be eagerly anticipating the release of the new C-Class, but none more than South Africa.
The Daimler-Chrysler plant in East London has invested R2 billion in preparing for the production of this new model. From this year, the plant is set to build 80 000 new C-Class vehicles annually for both domestic and foreign markets. It has been suggested that as many as 2 000 new jobs will be created between the East London factory and its supplier network as a result of this project.