Successfully causing dissension amongst those wishing to categorize their CLS through traditional means as a sedan, Mercedes-Benz again blended the flavours of two types of cars with the Concept Shooting Break at this past April’s Auto China show. Merging the utility and room of a wagon with the sleek contours of a sports coupe, the concept car’s dashing design was also largely production-ready in appearance. Listing the Shooting Break as a design study in Beijing, Mercedes-Benz has now confirmed the hyper-sporty wagon will go into production.
Since the Mercedes-Benz Concept Shooting Break’s debut, the German auto company has taken the cover off the latest CLS four-door coupe due out for the 2012 model year. At even the quickest glance, the Shooting Break design cues were blatantly evident on the new vehicle’s flattering form. Without any surprise, the production-based wagon will be a resident of the CLS-Class sharing much of the powertrain and underpinnings of the four-door coupe.
According to European specifications, two gasoline engines are projected to be leading candidates for the North American version of the CLS-Class. Included inside of the Concept Shooting Break, the high-technology 3.5 liter direct injected V-6 engine is indeed packaged within the vehicle with all 306 horsepower joining the pilgrimage. For considerably higher output, the CLS-Class’ top engine will remain a 8-cylinder powerplant. A 4.6 liter V-shaped block (almost a full liter smaller in displacement than the V-8 fitted in the 2010 CLS), this engine pumps out 408 horsepower to succeed the outgoing version of Mercedes-Benz four-door coupe. Both powerplants use Mercedes-Benz’s BlueEfficiency bi-turbocharger setup (similar technology to Ford’s EcoBoost band of engines) for netting impressive horsepower while also producing a fuel efficiency improvement of 25 percent for the previous CLS engines.
Chairman of the Board of Daimler AG Dr. Dieter Zetsche declares the production of this fusion coupe-wagon as a positive move for the German car builder. “The decision to build the CLS Shooting Brake underscores the leading role of Mercedes-Benz in regards of innovative passenger car concepts and design” Dr. Zetsche said. By the time is reaches Mercedes-Benz dealerships, the CLS variant will be known as the CLS Shooting Brake (note the change from ‘Break’ of the concept car). Bringing the CLS Shooting Brake to live in 2012, the new Mercedes-Benz is slated to for assembly on the Sindelfingen plant which currently manufactures the SLS AMG.
Information and photo source: Daimler AG
