CUV Coupe, PHEVs and 9-Speed Coming from Mercedes
The ’16 GLE will be built at Mercedes’ plant near Tuscaloosa, AL.
January 12, 2015
DETROIT – After playing to the crowd here by suggesting the Detroit Lions football team may have gotten a raw deal from the refs in their recent playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys, Mercedes-Benz Chief Dieter Zetsche announces a flurry of new products and technologies to be introduced in the next several years during a pre-auto show event Sunday night.
Mercedes will launch 10 new plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles by 2017, he says. Also coming soon are a new 9-speed automatic transmission (Mercedes currently uses 7-speed transmissions) and a CUV-based coupe named the GLE that will go on sale in late summer.
The ’16 GLE will be built at Mercedes’ plant near Tuscaloosa, AL, alongside the GL-Class and M-Class CUVs and the C-Class sedan. Featuring a dramatically sloping roof and tall stance similar to models such as the BMW X6, the truck will be built for the U.S. and exported globally and is expected to push output at the plant past 300,000 units annually.
The GLE represents the new nomenclature the automaker is introducing to replace its familiar decades-old alpha-numeric system. Zetsche acknowledges the system is a bit complicated, but explains the old way no longer could be used “because we now have more models than there are letters in the alphabet.”
After briefly explaining how the new naming system works, Zetsche announced to a crowd of reporters that there would be a quiz afterwards. “Pass it and drinks will be on us for the rest of the evening,” he jokes.
Zetsche, was in a jovial mood following a strong sales month in December where deliveries of the new C-Class soared 50%.
Mercedes’ latest push into PHEVs starts with the new C350, which is powered by a 2.0L 4-cyl. engine making 208 hp and 258 lb.-ft. (350 Nm) of torque and an 80-hp electric motor that delivers 251 lb.-ft. (340 Nm) of torque for a total of 275 hp and 443 lb.-ft. (600 Nm) of torque. The plug-in can travel up to 18.6 miles (30 km) on purely electric power.
The 9-speed transmission, debuting in the new GLE, will offer up to a 6.5% gain in fuel economy, says Thomas Weber, head of Mercedes research and development. The sporty new CUV will be available in a wide variety of configurations, with powertrains ranging from 258 hp to close to 600 hp, including AMG versions.
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