COVER Mercedes C-class
● Facelift for compact exec ● New E-class engines likely
First official pictures of facelifted compact exec
THE Mercedes C-class ended 2017 as the UK’S eighth best-selling car overall; now the German brand has revealed the first details on the heavily revised version of the car that will go on sale here in the second half of this year.
The C-class features a range of new infotainment and connectivity, along with fresh engines, but it stays on the same platform as before, so the car’s styling gets a subtle evolution instead of any major changes.
There are new bumpers, plus revised headlights and tail-lamps. The standard mix at the front will be halogen lights with LED daytime running lights, but a full-led set-up will be available as an option. There will also be a couple of possible display configurations in the front cabin. The first is a broadly conventional instrument cluster, albeit with a 5.5-inch screen between the two dials. As an upgrade, the brand will offer buyers a fully digital instrument display, based around a 12.3-inch screen.
The central display also has a couple of possible sizes. Lower-spec editions with the ‘Audio 20’ infotainment system will make do with a seven-inch display, but this can be upgraded to a 16:9-layout widescreen configuration, with a 10.25-inch panel. Some of the infotainment functions can be controlled through touch-sensitive panels on the steering wheel, a set-up directly carried over from the larger E-class and S-class.
The cabin also gets what the marque is calling ‘Energizing Comfort Control’; a system which uses the air-conditioning, including scents, along with the seat heating, ventilation and massage functions to improve driver wellbeing.
Mercedes has not confirmed any engine details, but Auto Express understands that the car will get several of the new motors from the E-class.
In particular, we’d expect the C-class to use the OM654 four-cylinder 2.0-litre turbodiesel, which should offer gains in smoothness and fuel efficiency, while trumping the old motor’s performance figures. This is likely to be available in three states of tune: C 200, C 220 and C 300. There will also be a C 180 petrol, using the same Renault-sourced 1.6-litre turbocharged motor as the SLC 180, with around 155bhp.
Most C-classes will continue to be rear-drive, but 4MATIC four-wheel drive will be offered on at least one diesel engine and probably the C 200 petrol.
Mercedes UK is simplifying the trim levels for the C-class by phasing out the current SE Exec and boosting the standard kit list of the entry-level SE model to match it. That’s likely to mean a small increase in the list price to a starting figure of around £30,000, although the car maker is hoping that stronger residual values could deliver a small reduction in monthly rates.
First orders will be taken from next month, but the earliest UK deliveries aren’t expected until August.