Shanghai show: Mercedes previews GLC Coupe concept

MERCEDES-BENZ will add to its range of SUV coupes next year, after previewing its new GLC Coupe in concept form at this week’s Shanghai motor show.

Sketches of the car were revealed in early April, after Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche showed off the concept at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Berlin, and the Shanghai show car is referred to as a “near-production-standard study” by the German car-maker.

Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific manager of public relations and product communications Jerry Stamoulis would not be drawn on the future of the GLC, other than to say it would be welcomed alongside the already confirmed GLC-Class wagon that will be released locally in December.

“The Concept GLC Coupe is a showcar for the time being,” he told GoAuto.

“However, if a production model were to be announced, we would certainly consider this vehicle type for our market.”

Based on the mid-size C-Class platform, the GLC show car is 12mm shorter overall than its donor sibling at 4730mm and rides on a wheelbase just six millimetres shorter at 2830mm, but is more than 150mm wider at 2000m and 15mm taller at 1600mm.

It sits 60mm longer and 15mm lower than its main protagonist in the market, BMW’s X4 coupe crossover. The GLC Coupe will also compete directly against the Porsche Macan and the Audi RS Q3, while larger rivals include the BMW X6, Porsche Cayenne and its own larger brother, the GLE Coupe.

The GLC is powered by the brand’s familiar 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol engine, mated to its 4Matic all-wheel-drive system and 9G-Tronic nine-speed automatic transmission.

Projected powertrains for the coupe – expected to debut in Europe late in 2016 – should include the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol and 2.1-litre diesels, along with two- and four-wheel drive layouts.

Power output is said to be 270kW and 5500rpm, and 520Nm of torque between 1400-4000rpm. No performance, weight or economy information was provided.

The show car wears 21-inch alloys wrapped in 255/5 R 21 tyres up front and 285/45 R21s in the rear. Aside from the quad exhausts, the rear LED light treatment and the show-car mirrors, the GLC four-door appears to be very close to being a finished product.

"With its modern and sensual design idiom, the Concept GLC Coupe gives a foretaste of future SUV models from Mercedes-Benz,” said Daimler AG head of design Gorden Wagener in a statement. “At the same time, it embraces the typical values of tradition-steeped Mercedes-Benz coupes".