Revised versions of the iconic four-door Mercedes-Benz CLS Coupé and its five-door estate car sibling, the CLS Shooting Brake, have been launched in Ireland.
In the line-up is a new entry-version CLS 220 BlueTEC diesel, an engine not previously available in the CLS-Class. Priced at €62.505 (ex works ), it gives owners entry to the CLS world for a price some 10.5% lower than before. In the Shooting Brake version, a similar price decrease applies with the entry version reduced to €65,000.
Firmly positioned within the upper reaches of the premium car market, the CLS has been to the fore in establishing the four-door coupé segment. First introduced ten years ago, it was followed in 2012 by its Shooting Brake estate stablemate.
Considered as something of a style icon, the CLS appeals to those who relished elegance and prestige wrapped in a design that oozes sportiness and style.
As good to look at from the rear as it is from the front, the new CLS has lost none of its allure. It retains its long bonnet, slim window line with frameless side windows and the dynamic rearward sloping roof that give it its coupé-like appeal.
Combining the elegance and dynamism of a coupé with the comfort and functionality of a saloon, it has been comprehensively updated with features that includes a more expressive, more sporty frontal design with a pronounced bumper, large air intakes and new studded radiator grille faced with an imposing star motif.
Along with its more incisive front section, the CLS gets an enhanced interior whose features include a new, free-standing head unit, restyled centre console and redesigned three-spoke sports steering wheel. At the driver’s hand are numerous technical innovations that deliver exemplary on-the-road functionality. Owners have five attractive interior colours, six types of trim and different qualities of leather to choose from.
In its promotional material, Mercedes-Benz places emphasis on the CLS’s lighting system – a package that includes an optional ‘intelligent’ Multibeam system that can adjust quickly and automatically to illuminate the road and carriageway edges without dazzling other drivers. Another feature is a ‘welcome home’ function that casts a pleasant blue light when the vehicle is unlocked.
Driving price reductions across the range are engines that are more CO2 friendly and fuel efficient. Two diesel and two petrol engines power the new CLS-Class the most popular likely to be the four-cylinder CLS 220 BlueTEC (170bhp/400Nm ). Its attributes include a 122 CO2 rating, 4.7-litres/100k fuel consumption and Band 1 road tax of €270 per annum. Second diesel is a CLS 350 BlueTEC V6 version (258 bhp/620 Nm ).
In petrol, the choice is a V6 3.5-litre biturbo CLS 400 (333bhp/480Nm ) and a CLS 500 (408bhp/600Nm ). For the truly sporty, two AMG versions are available.
Buoyed by a 40 percent growth in sales this year, and the expectation of an additional 20 percent increase next year, Mercedes-Benz in Ireland is confident that the CLS-Class Coupé and Shooting Brake will contribute significantly to the expansion of the marque in the year to come.
‘With a notable CLS-Class customer base already in place, an entry level price significantly lower than before and an economy now moving in a positive direction, we expect the competitive appeal of our design-specifications-price equation to lead to an increase in demand for the CLS in the year and years ahead’ their passenger car sales manager in Ireland, Ciaran Allen said.
