German Car Forum

Auto Motor und Sport has published an article today outlining what they believe we can expect to see in the forthcoming 2009 Mercedes E-Class.

According to the story, prospective E-Class owners can expect to see a slight facelift in 2006, to help combat the widely-spread "quality issues" we hear about so often.

The real facelift, however, won't come until 2009. If Auto Motor und Sport is correct (and they usually are fairly accurate), one of the most notable differences we'll see in the E-Class' newest incarnation will be redesigned front headlights. Gone are the oval headlights E-Class owners have come to love, replaced by a slightly more tear-drop shape. Another major difference is the overall stance of the vehicle - the new E-Class features a more agressive, almost "CLS" style design.

As for the interior, the new E-Class will benefit from an increase in lenth of 20mm. The added length in combination with a re-organized interior will provide occupants with greater feeling comfort and spaciousness. A couple other interior highlights include a newly-designed instrument cluster, to help accomodate the night-vision screen (similar to the 2007 S-Class), as well as a hinged Command plus system screen, to avoid detracting from the look of the other interior design elements.

If you're wondering what will power the next E, expect to see similar powerplants to the ones currently offered. Mercedes will keep the four-cylinder variants, starting with a 175 hp gas engine, and will produce powerplants all the way up to a 500+ horsepower AMG version. Of course, you can also expect to see 4-MATIC and wagon versions as well.

That just about covers the E-Class rumors for the day. Obviously a lot can change between now and 2009, so if we hear anything new, we'll be sure to keep you posted.

In the meantime, you can check out the full story over at Auto Motor und Sport by clicking here. It's roughly translated from German, so consider yourself warned.




Photos copyright © 2005, Auto Motor und Sport



emercedesbenz.com

looks more than a facelift too me....

not too bad.... very drastic in the rear though.... i have mixed feelings!!!

I like it alot.. but thats not a FL they are just using the wrong words.. this is obviously a PS of the new W212 E class...

either or.... looks pretty decent i think.... we have seen so many PS's... this is actually very SL like in the rear and not bad....

Looks very nice. Every picture or idea I see of the upcoming E class looks great. I hope the actual model can match its hype.

Looks a lot more aggressive than the current E, which looks borderline lifeless to me. I hope that the new E gets some styling ideas from the CLS or comes up with something new. The current E is just boring, inside and out. Decent car but boring/generic.

I don't think that rear is accurate - that is the rear-styling Mercedes are now using for their Coupés - the CL will have a rear similar to this though. The E class saloon/sedan will have a rear more like the W221's.

That's what I'm worried about.

its weird how that back window meets the back of the car...otherwise....pretty good

Yeah.
I just noticed the strong hint of SLR in the rear.

Sometimes I feel I'm talking to myself here - that is what I said alt, that rear styling is Mercedes current Coupé styling - the CL will look similar to that - I would be very surprised if that was what they use on the E class.

Tell me about it Robert. I feel the same sometimes.
The new CL’s rear will definitely look similar to that.

Anyway, all this nonsense about the 2009 E-class bores me to death.

I mean the car is 3 years away from production. The face lifted E is not even here yet and they’re already talking about the next generation model.
Show me some solid evidence that this is the new E and I’ll believe it. I bet the designers at MB haven’t even started drawing the next E.
All I’m saying is that it’s just too early to be talking about it when the current model’s life span is not over yet.

2009? Dear God, that is such a long time away! By then, I'm sorry to say that the 5er and A6 would have eaten away most of MB's sales in this category (IMO). And, concerning your post, they already have drawings for the E-class. The E90 were tested as early as 2002. That's 3 years from when the E90 actually came out.

It might be on the drawing board, but definitely not the final production version
I mean there are no spy pics of heavily como'ed E-Class prototypes out just yet.

Did you get a chance to see the E90 before its launch when you worked for BMW?

This chop has a little too much rear overhang. How is the upcoming E63 going to compete with the M5 if it has to swing that ass around corners.

This is very nice. Let's hope it will look like this.

I think the front is pretty accurate, but i hope a slightly more bulky grille to make it look more modern..
The rear, i think will be between the S and the CLS, i'm pretty sure it will have some S-class influence while made sportier and shorter.. the pic up there i'm sure is very inaccurate (rear).

I unfortunately didn't get a chance to see the E90 because I was only an intern, and this was a huge project going on. But last summer, I got to see an in-house video of the making of the E90. The car was doing testing in BMW facilities by the end of 2002 and I'm talking about mechanical testing. They then had a mule running probably before.

So somewhere in Stuttgart lies the next E-Class... by the way, I'm really liking that front. It adds a lot more to the current car. Hope that's how it stays.

Hope so.... I think the look is very nice, perhaps the way it should look from the direction of current models.

If MB does it right, they need to release more info on the '09 version. Face lift is no biggie imo, but perhap seeing something like this may make people hold onto their current models for a couple of more years and look into getting something like this. Currently there are many other nice makes, and customers may look to divert from MB, a great looking upcomiong middle class design might hold of buyers from straying away.

Again i think th epics are beautiful, i hope it resolves into something similar.