New Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake: inspired by Britain
How the UK helped inspire a new Mercedes....
The new Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake now has a strong association with Britain. Last night, this groundbreaking car was revealed to the world at Mercedes-Benz World Brooklands – by none other than Daimler CEO himself, Dr. Dieter Zetsche.
Getting the legendary main man to any event is a sign of its sheer importance. Holding that event here in Britain, instead of Mercedes’ home in Stuttgart, is also very significant. Has there ever been a brand new Mercedes shown to the world first here in Britain? The Shooting Brake is thus already a car close to our hearts.
But there’s more. As I made the short walk from the Brooklands Hotel to Mercedes-Benz World itself, I spotted something odd amongst the rows of Mercedes. Wait… it can’t be… it IS: an Aston Martin DB5 Shooting Brake:
A Reliant Scimitar GTE:
An Aston Martin DB6 Shooting Brake:
What were these idiosyncratic British cars doing outside a Mercedes event? Had I got the right location? I had indeed, as Dr. Zetsche was later to confirm.
The CLS Shooting Brake, see, is another new class of car Mercedes is to popularise: the five-door coupe-estate. It’s already invented the modern four-door coupe sector this model is based upon (and also claims the two-door folding hard-top roadster and the premium SUV as its own, too): now here’s another model, quipped Dr. Zetsche, for the competition to follow.
It’s being revealed here in the UK because the Shooting Brake itself was invented here. This is something “any real car expert knows”: our odd fondness for taking models such as the Aston Martin DB5 coupe and turning them into an estate car has clearly struck a chord with the Daimler designers, and finally here reaches production.
Indeed, as Dr. Zeteche confirmed, it’s a concept that’s actually been doing the rounds at Mercedes shows since 2008, its designers inspired by the fact luxury buyers “love cars, but love other stuff too”. Now they can carry all that around with them without compromising the car.
But, how to sell the concept to the other half? Ah, there’s a solution here too, quipped Dr. Zetsche, in the form of sheer practicality and a maximum 1,550 litres’ boot space. “In case anyone had a hard time convincing his or her spouse to buy a CLS, you can now say: ‘this is not about me, honey, it’s about our family’.
“… It’s pretty hard to come up with a need this car cannot satisfy”. Maybe we Brits have been onto something all along. Thanks to Mercedes, it’s a modern reality.
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New Mercedes CLS Shooting Brake
Richard AucockSo committed to car journalism he is Guild Chairman of the Guild of Motoring Writers. He has been writing about cars since he was 15 and is living the dream.
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