Mercedes-Benz flashes two-door E-Class

MERCEDES-BENZ has teased its all-new E-Class Coupe ahead of its official unveiling on December 14 in Europe, with the new sporty two-door expected to take the fight directly to the ageing BMW 6 Series.

The quick 20-second preview video shows snippets of the new body shape, including glimpses of a heavily sloped roofline, a close-up of Mercedes’ signature diamond grille, S-Class Coupe-like wraparound tail-lights, gloss black side mirrors and a subtle bootlip rear spoiler.

Flashes of the interior reveal a cabin identical to the E-Class sedan, with a high-definition widescreen display for instrumentation, infotainment and climate controls, steering wheel-mounted haptic feedback controls, and leather finished dashboard with carbon-fibre highlights.

Although no powertrain options were revealed, when released in Australia mid-year, the tenth-generation E-Class large luxury sedan range launched with a choice of petrol and diesel inline four-cylinder and V6 engines mated to a nine-speed automatic transmission.

The E-Class Coupe will likely borrow the same engine options and, given Mercedes-Benz Australia’s choices with the C-Class Coupe range, would mean the large luxury coupe range opens with a 135kW/300Nm 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder E200.

Other variants which could debut with the E-Class Coupe include the 180kW/370Nm petrol E300 and a 143kW/400Nm diesel E220d – both powered by 2.0-litre turbo fours – and a sub-AMG 245kW/480Nm E400 powered by a turbocharged petrol V6.

AMG-fettled versions are also likely in the pipe, including the 270kW/520Nm biturbo 3.0-litre V6 E43 and full-fat 375kW/700Nm 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 E63.

Although still too far away to confirm Australian pricing, the E-Class Coupe will likely fetch a premium over its sedan siblings, which start at $89,990 before on-roads. The outgoing E-Class coupe range starts at $81,855 and tops out at $131,615.

While the previous generation E-Class Coupe was built on the same platform as the C-Class sedan, the new E-Class Coupe will share the same underpinnings as its sedan sibling.

E-Class Coupe and Convertible sales have reached 622 to the end of November this year, a 21.3 per cent decrease over the same period last year.