![]() ![]() A small number of buyers were expected to opt out of the E-class for the CLS but Mr von Sanden said he did not expect any substitution from the S-class range. "It’s very definitely a different car and one of the most striking models in the Mercedes line-up," he said. He admitted it had strong technical ties with the E-class but did not believe the CLS’s arrival would dilute the brand. "Our market analysis indicates clearly that customers who have previously shown little or no affinity with the Mercedes brand will see the CLS as an attractive prospective purchase," he said. Interestingly, too, Mercedes-Benz Car Group managing director Horst von Sanden said about 40 per cent of CLS buyers will be new to the three-pointed star. Even with a full-size spare it has a roomy boot. ![]() It is low-slung, aggressively styled, with the CLS 500 and CLS 55 AMG boasting fat 18-inch alloys and the practicality and boot space of a conventional sedan. ![]() As a car, it is a four-seater with plenty of legroom and tight headroom but espousing definite coupe pretensions. German media described it as the "car to tempt the family man", and not surprisingly most buyers in Australia are expected to be professional males and between 45 and 55. The CLS is based on the Vision CLS, unveiled to an approving audience at the 2003 Frankfurt motor show, and uses E-class platform architecture. And, like the RX-8, cashed-up CLS customers are clearly unconcerned about nomenclature, as almost half of this year’s allocation of 400 CLS coupes has been sold. However, Mazda did it several years ago with the four-door, four-seater RX-8 sportscar, and now it is Benz’s turn with its new CLS four-door coupe. Not since the luxury Rover P5B four-door coupe of the 1960s has the car industry challenged public perceptions of what the word actually stands for – which in most people’s mind is traditionally a two-door vehicle wrapped in a low-slung sportscar body. MERCEDES-BENZ has joined the ranks of car-makers redefining the meaning of the word ‘coupe’. ![]()
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