Mercedes-Benz has unveiled their S-Class Coupé Concept at Frankfurt and you can think of it as next year’s replacement to the big, smooth-riding, Mercedes-Benz CL-Class. Rumour has it that while this is still only a concept car, the S-Class Coupé is actually 90% production-ready. It should be doing the motor show rounds in production form as soon as next year and go on sale towards the end of 2014 with prices in the R1.3-million bracket.
Widely regarded as one of the star exhibits at the Frankfurt Motor Show, it’s clear Mercedes-Benz wanted to cotton onto the S-Class name-recognition with ‘Concept S-Class Coupé’ (and the half-dozen other S-Class models, like the Pullman, they plan to launch) and they think this should guarantee better sales success for the flagship coupé when it replaces the easy-to-forget CL-Class. Of course it’s still a way away and we’ll probably have to wait for Geneva in March next year before we get full disclosure on all the magic goodies it has to offer, but styling concept does reveal some key details in the meantime.
The S-Class Coupé wears Mercedes-Benz’s single-bar grille which is applied exclusively to their sportier models and yet the front end is unmistakable Mercedes-Benz elegance. In profile it’s replete with a low roofline and narrow glass house to give it its slung-back look. The rear lights are perhaps a little out of character with Mercedes-Benz’s norm in the way they’re narrow and flow around the sides, almost hinting at a BMW M6 sort-of-look.
Despite its obvious size, the S-Class Coupé’s strong, taut curves give it a svelte, athletic feel. It makes the already-good-looking CL-Class look a little pedestrian by comparison and the strong nose, together with the long, powerful, A-pillar, flows rakishly to the B-pillar-free profile. It’s not all show and no go though. In aid of its sportier application, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupé has a 90 mm shorter wheelbase, it’s 59 mm wider too and this combines with an overall shorter and lower stance to help plant it into the road a little better than the standard S-Class limo.
Accentuated wheel arches hide 21-inch wheels (tyres at front 265/35 R 21, at rear 295/35 R 21), with a wheelbase of 2 945 mm the coupé measures 5 050 mm in length, 1 958 mm in width and 1 409 mm in height. The interior is a study in sculpted elegance with a white instrument panel for perfect clarity and a colour scheme for the displays that is deliberately bluish and sporty. The flowing cockpit-like shape of the dash is, according to Mercedes-Benz, meant to curve like a whale’s tail just before it re-enters the water. On top of the free-form surface is 12.3-inch screen familiar from the S-Class limo.
The powertrain in the S-Class Coupé Concept is shared with the S500 and it comes in the form of a Bi-turbo 4.7-litre V8 that produces 335 kW and 700 Nm of torque. There’s also talk of it debuting with a new 9-speed ZF automatic gearbox. The S-Class Coupe gets a full suite of safety systems, including the ‘6DVision’ which monitors traffic and pedestrians within 50 m of the car thanks to the 3D view that its two cameras create. The Magic Body Control system also uses this 3D camera system and sets up the suspension according to the road conditions ahead of you.