2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Official Reveal
After some teasing, Mercedes-Benz has finally revealed the 2017 E-Class at the Detroit Auto Show. The design isn’t revolutionary but that’s because it’s finally wearing the Sensual Purity design first seen in the S-Class and later the C-Class.
The new E-Class has a lightweight body shell constructed from aluminium and ultra high strength steel with far more aluminum used this time covering such areas as the bonnet, trunk lid and front wings. The new E-Class is also more slippery with a record-breaking drag coefficient of 0.23 courtesy of an Airpanel advanced shutter system, available for most engines in the Exclusive range and base models, which uses adjustable louvres to control air intake through the radiator grille and a second shutter in the air intake under the number plate to improve system performance.
The revolutionary parts are the cool features in the interior and in the driving. These include touch-sensitive swipe controls on the steering wheel that behaves just like a smartphone’s, a dual-12.3″-screen display that takes over the conventional instrument cluster and stretches over to the center console , displaying infotainment and vehicle status and system information.
Just to cover all manner of preferences, the interior ambient lighting system uses of an energy-saving LED technology that offers a choice of 64 colours for greater personalisation.
Engine-wise, it’s two four-cylinder options in petrol and diesel for the moment (E200 and E220d). Mercedes-Benz will later include the more powerful six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines; the E400 4MATIC will sport a six-cylinder petrol engine that produces 333hp and 480Nm of torque. A plug-in hybrid version will also be available. This will be equipped with a four-cylinder petrol heart that has a total output of 279hp and only 600Nm of torque.
The E-Class was teased at the recent Consumer Electronics Show which means its packed with technology and is for Mercedes-Benz, a step forward into the realm of self-driving cars. The new E-Class will have an optional driving package with some semi-autonomous features like Drive Pilot which automatically follows a car at a safe distance, steer through moderate bends and change lanes for you upon activation of the indicator; car-to-x communication where it will communicate with other vehicles as well as other objects/systems so you will eventually be able to “see around corners or through obstacles” (the effectiveness will probably depend on the number of cars on the road with such feature); a remote-parking system that allows the driver to park in a tight space, via a phone app, without being stuck in the car.
We’re just scraping the surface on the technical details of the technology built into the new E-Class and will feature more later.
