Having helped launch the fad for four-door coupes that’s currently sweeping Europe with its CLS, Mercedes-Benz wants to move the game on to a whole new niche with this CLS Shooting Brake five-door hatchback. This styling concept [via Autocar] bridges the gap between Mercedes’ current design language, and its next-gen look, which was previewed in Geneva by the F800 Style Concept.
Chief among these forthcoming styling cues is the classic SL-inspired “soft nose” grille treatment, which will become part of Mercedes’ design DNA across the brand’s future lineup. According to Autocar, the CLS Shooting Brake hasn’t been officially announced for production, although the British mag notes that:
[The CLS Shooting Brake] has already been given the internal codename X218. A Stuttgart insider commented, “We don’t traditionally provide cars with codenames until they have been granted an official production go-ahead.”
Shouldn’t it be a Shooting Brake?
Since this is what MB’s do best, “Break” is probably correct.
I wrote this post using the “Brake” spelling, only to notice that Autocar spelled it “Break.” Even though it didn’t seem right I changed to their spelling… and now I’m changing it back.
According to what I’ve read, ‘Benz has deliberately spelled it as “Break”.
As it is a departure from, but based on, blah, blah, blah…
Sexy, sexy, sexy.
Let’s see what it looks like when it rolls off the line.
I am *not* feeling any of MB’s designs (for several years now). I guess if China is to be the worlds largest market for luxury autos it’s only fitting that they all look as if they were designed there. :(
What defines a “coupe”? I always thought of them as 2-doors or a 3-door hatch. Wikipedia has some detailed definitions, but this car fits none….not even the SAE definition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coupe
Looks like a stationwagon to me.
Technically “coupe” just means “cut”.
Ergo, the “robocoupe” food processor.
Though we seem to translate coupe in the US as solely the province of the 2 door, there really is no reason it can’t be a 4-door. Or a shooting brake.
Turn that grill into a crosshair and it could’ve been the next gen Magnum.
porschespeed:
technically the French infinitive “to cut” is couper; coupe (with the accent-aigu on the e) is the past participle of the infinitive. “Coupe” without the accent is the present-tense first/third person conjugation.
cdotson,
Thanks. My French is very, very, weak.
if they can manage to unify it across the line (A-S) it would work wonders rather than have each level look like its own brand (people don’t want to feel inferior when buying a C class vs. an E, BMW seems to get that).
I actually have to object on that one. The C Class looks great in its own right and a driver of a 3 Series can only be called foolish if he thinks others see his car as a 5 series. Now Audi is a complete different story. Standing 5 meters away from an A4 I have to look twice to say that is not an A6. That can’t be the right idea about a brand design either.
Technically, “coupe” means “stroke”, which is likely what the typical buyer will have when he sees the price….
Mark,
I believe you are thinking of “coup” not “coupe”.
But, true. It won’t come cheap.
Mark — that is friggin’ hilarious! Thanks for the laugh.
“Shooting-brake is a 2-door car body style with a squared-off rear…the term originated with custom built 2-door luxury estate cars altered for use by hunters and other sportsmen such as golfers, riders, and polo players requiring easy access to larger storage areas than offered by the typical automobile boot.”
There are two too many doors on this to be a true shooting-brake. Unless the misspelling was intentional to differentiate this ‘break’ from the classic brake.
Also, this seems like the fifth CLS ‘preview’…where the heck is the actual production car? Does such a low-volume niche model need this much build-up?
Rear cargo bay access looks cruelly stunted from the tapered opening.
Not much different than the R-Class if you ask me. How many models does MB offer these days? They must be their own competition.
Twotone
I have to agree. It looks to much like an R Class. I don’t care for the R Class at all.
That nose is just awful. Did Daimler take Chrysler’s designers with them some of their latest offerings like Chrysler rejects.
Too many doors to be a Shooting Brake.
Not enough balls to call it what it is: a station wagon.
Oh, coupe style, yeah yeah sure sure. This “style” reminds me of the fastback 4-door sedans that Chevrolet tried to sell in 1949/1950.
Like several other posters, I too was a bit nonplussed by a four-door “break.” So I went to Wikipedia (keeping firmly in mind that it isn’t the be-all-end-all of human knowledge) and found this line in the “shooting-brake” article:
‘In French-speaking countries estate-bodied cars (including those with four doors) are often referred to as “break” models (note the different spelling), short for “break de chasse”, or “hunting break”.’
So…Sprechen Sie Franzosisch?
@Bob12: You are right (c.f. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Citroen_ds_break_h_sst.jpg)
Mercedes is calling it “Shooting Break”, at least thats what the license plate says. I guess they must have done this on purpose, maybe because it has four doors?
The Dodge Magnum lives again.
The offspring of a Magnum and CLS55.
Agreed it looks more like a Magnum Evo.