Mercedes Benz ‘Shooting Break’ Concept
Dating to the 2008 Paris debut of its ConceptFascination show car, whose styling presaged the current E-Class, Mercedes-Benz has demonstrated a keen interest in the brake body style, which in strictest terms is a coupe with a squared-off back.
At the Beijing auto show, which opens to the news media later this week, Mercedes will unveil its Concept Shooting Break, a car that owes little to its Paris predecessor and even less to its nominal inspiration.
Aside from the spelling tweak, which is consistent with French convention versus the more common, British “brake,” the Beijing car did not start life as a traditional two-door coupe, as is typical of the body style. Instead the Concept Shooting Break expands on the Mercedes CLS, a four-door whose signature swept roofline has flaunted facile sedan-coupe labeling since 2004. That car’s D.N.A. is readily apparent in the Concept Shooting Break’s dramatic greenhouse arc and wraparound taillight array. The chopped greenhouse makes the beltline below the passenger windows appear remarkably high, creating a sinister if somewhat beefy profile stance.
What will likely inspire more debate, however, are the concept’s nose and tail, which also pick liberally from the Daimler family tree. The grille references the $200,000 2011 SLS AMG supercar, which in turn paid homage to the legendary SL gullwing racers of the early 1950s. The ample rear’s pedigree is less evocative, harking back to the R-Class crossover conceived under Daimler’s star-crossed partnership with Chrysler.
Motivating the concept is a forerunner of Mercedes-Benz’s new line of BlueEfficiency engines. The show car has a 3.5-liter, gas-burning V-6 rated at 308 horsepower.
While brand reps are tight-lipped about the concept’s production prospects, timing the debut for Beijing rather than the New York auto show a few weeks ago is significant.
“We sell an extended-wheelbase E-Class in China that’s very popular,” says Larkin Hill, a Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman, also noting that the automaker’s Chinese customers tend to be chauffeured. A luxury shooting brake with four doors, unencumbered by a high-zoot S.U.V.’s public-image baggage or a luxo-barge’s stuffy anonymity, could consequently be a marquee player in a big market.
Source (article): NYTIMES
Source (pictures): CARANDDRIVER
