E-Class W212 Mercedes W212 E-Class Facelift: Renders, Spyshots, Etc

[Deleted member 1071]

Indeed-the W212 facelift may appear to be a somewhat desperate attempt at righting Peter Pfeiffers' wrongs regarding this car. The W212 has not been the commercial success that M-B had hoped for, despite sales of some 1 mio. units since its' introduction in early 2009. That being said, I am confident that M-B automobiles that will be introduced as of the upcoming W222 S-Class will be far more visually palatable than of late.

 

[Carmaker1]

I am not really going to comment too much on how I personally feel about the facelift as I'll wait until I see it in person, like I did with the current model. Photos don't always tell everything, especially when they are digitally manipulated. However, I will say that the borderline personal criticism of the designers is ironic, considering that it was stated both Robert Lesnik and Gorden Wagener were reportedly the same people also responsible for the W222 S-Class back in 2009. The facelift's design changes were finished in 2011, so during that 1-2 year time period between the W222 and the W212.5 design projects, we can only wonder what happened and why the results of the W222 greatly differ from the W212.5.

We should all remember that it is also very likely that Gorden Wagener possibly did not like(if not despised) the design language implemented by Peter Pfeiffer and as a result, might be drastically forcing the implementation of his design philosophy on facelifted models and that might easily be clashing with the work of exterior designers and the works of his predecessor. At the moment, the C218.5/CLS facelift has just finished the design process, so we can all hope that it turns out ideal and no clashing occurred, as like the W212, it was one of the last models designed under Peter Pfeiffer.

 

[Carmaker1]

Indeed-the W212 facelift may appear to be a somewhat desperate attempt at righting Peter Pfeiffers' wrongs regarding this car. The W212 has not been the commercial success that M-B had hoped for, despite sales of some 1 mio. units since its' introduction in early 2009. That being said, I am confident that M-B automobiles that will be introduced as of the upcoming W222 S-Class will be far more visually palatable than of late.

Beat me to it, as I had started typing this 16 minutes ago.

 

[Merc1]

Where do you all get this from about it not being a sales success that MB had hoped for? Where has that been stated, eluded to or even hinted at from Mercedes execs? I'd really like to see that.

I must say that at first glance I don't really care for the facelift either. Seems like too much going on and just an overall confusion of design elements. I was looking to replace my daily driver, but it won't be with an E-Class, again upon first glance.

I will see the car in person next month though.


M

 

[Merc1]

We should all remember that it is also very likely that Gorden Wagener possibly did not like(if not despised) the design language implemented by Peter Pfeiffer and as a result, might be drastically forcing the implementation of his design philosophy on facelifted models and that might easily be clashing with the work of exterior designers and the works of his predecessor. At the moment, the C218.5/CLS facelift has just finished the design process, so we can all hope that it turns out ideal and no clashing occurred, as like the W212, it was one of the last models designed under Peter Pfeiffer.

If all of this is true, then that is really unfortunate. This sort of thing can bring a company to its knees.

M

 

[Deleted member 1071]

References to disappointing W212 sales ? Why, the German automotive press among others.

Most recently, Page 19 of the 13. December 2012 issue of Auto Motor und Sport.

 

[Carmaker1]

Well said. Why can't MB go back to their old ways of facelifting a car without going bananas on it?? If this was done on a new generation E-Class, I'd understand, but this a facelift! You had four years of feedback from customers and I'm pretty sure they got everything wrong. And it seemed like yesterday Wagener was flaunting the quad headlights and the Ponton arch in the press release back in '08. What was wrong with giving it a those Concept Fascination LED headlights, improve the interior and call it a facelift?

And I'm pretty sure MB will offer those LED units as an expen$ive option, so most will drive around with those 90's clear lense headlights like they are offering on the FL C and GLK. I've seen a couple FL C's with a clear lenses and aftermarket xenon, and you don't want to be in front of them when their headlights are on.

This is for the W212 facelift, so I'll try not to go off-topic too much. The E-Class 12-2008/1-2009 presentation was all for show, as he's on personally criticized the angular & "geriatric" design philosophy of Peter Pfeiffer. He simply did his job like he was expected and scriptedly present the car as if he was responsible for it, since that was his role as design chief. At BMW, there were plenty of models designed under Bangle that van Hooydonk presented them as if he was responsible for them and pleased with the results. There was no difference here. The W176, W166, X166, upcoming W222, CLA, and W205 are currently the only visible models that bear his mark. What attributes do those have? More rounded design, unlike that of his predecessor. On another note, Motor Authority now has official images.

 

[Zafiro]

The car is now official so go to this thread for more info and photos

http://www.germancarforum.com/community/threads/mercedes-benz-e-class-w212-facelift.47815/

 

[Merc1]

References to disappointing W212 sales ? Why, the German automotive press among others.

Most recently, Page 19 of the 13. December 2012 issue of Auto Motor und Sport.

What exactly did they say, who said it? A MB exec or a "journalist"?


M

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

Marcus, if you look at year to date sales of the E, it is about 70-80K units behind the 5er and A6. That's a big number, especially considering these are supposed to be big margin earners. The 5er for example is said to account for 30% of BMW's profit.

 

[singh_avtar]

E 250 Estate
Combined fuel consumption: 5.8l/100km
CO2 emission: 135g/km*

E 300 BlueTEC HYBRID
...
Combined fuel consumption: 4.1l/100km
CO2 emission: 107g/km*

E 350 4MATIC
Combined fuel consumption: 7.4l/100km
CO2 emission: 174g/km*

 

[K-A]

I think with the luxury grill the facelifted E looks superb. Funny also how it makes the non facelifted E look old immediately. imo If one bought the W212 and is now complaining that it is outdated it means that the design was "wrong" from the very beginning. Why would you buy the car then? If the design was "correct" then a facelift does not make the original W212 look outdated.

Whit this facelift I think Mercedes just kinda admitted that they failed the W212 in the first place. Removing the stupid ponton and upgrading the interior I think are proofs. The original W212 also had one big problem imo: didn't look nice without AMG package. Waiting for more photos but I think that FL W212 does.

Really looking forward to the FL coupe and AMG versions

BTW any particular reason why Well-known members are allowed to ruin these threats one by one?

I guess I bought it because I didn't look past the badge.

At this point, so many about-faces from M-B designers, and I can't look past it anymore. If the team has to "correct" wrong things SO many times, and is losing market share so fast their frantic-ness shows up on the designs, then M-B is just not the M-B we've all come to love anymore

 

[K-A]

And I'm pretty sure MB will offer those LED units as an expen$ive option, so most will drive around with those 90's clear lense headlights like they are offering on the FL C and GLK. I've seen a couple FL C's with a clear lenses and aftermarket xenon, and you don't want to be in front of them when their headlights are on.

OMG, I didn't even think of that! Looked into it and indeed, the LED's are (EXPENSIVE) OPTIONS! My car has P2 HID's and honestly mine is one of the ONLY W212's I see with Xenons, so just imagine how "rare" the LED's will be.

They said that the "normal models" will have chrome pieces where the LED's are, and the next level up is just "one LED per side". It's gonna look horribly generic, back-to-the-90's, and just "off" without the LED's. Why not keep the headlights so snazzy and interesting and unique as they were with the quads? The front of the W212 is so damn stunning, IMO, and unmistakable. The new one could be any old car with 2 piece headlights and a boring/generic Star grille (and a homely interpretation at that).

At this point I could get over the Ponton elimination which literally looks like the designers were so drunk they couldn't join what was supposed to be one line up with each other, but why the quads and luxury grille! My W212-enthusiast nightmare was always if M-B caved and put a Star grille on the car.... not only did they do that, but they put one from the 90's on there. Round, too narrow, no sharp point, and very mundane.

 

[ramsterca]

I have noticed a bit of a similarity with the current generation of Mercedes designs and the ones that came out in the 80's (in terms of direction changes).

As an example, the W126 was a refinement and modernisation of what had come before while still retaining the elements from the previous generation. Then the W201 and W124 really put the Saaco design stamp on Mercedes and that was his look that he carried forward for most of the 80's into the early 90's (R129 and W140 were refinements of this again as were W210 and W202, if less successfully implemented).

Then he brought out a completely new look with the first A-Class and that carried over to the W220 and subsequent W211 and W203 (the softer look Mercedes with less angular lines and a little more flair).

The W221 is a refinement of that softer look while bringing in the new harder edge design that someone (Peter Pfeiffer perhaps?) appeared to have wanted to implement going forward from then on. This angular look hit its peak with the W212, but was most successfully implemented on the W204 before it.

Now they seem to be doing an about face again and going back to the softer look but with some angularity in the details (droopy lines etc.). This looks good from what I can see to date, but we'll have to wait for the final product.

Sadly, given the W212 was the most pronounced example of the last design idiom (boxy) it was going to be the model that looked the worst at facelift - since they're bringing in next generation soft elements into the older design to keep it in line with the next generation that it must sell beside for some years - and the the two elements are clashing. To some extent, this clash is also apparent in the W204 facelift, with the softer front lights not working as well as the first generation ones.

 

[martinbo]

Please continue discussion here as it's now official: http://www.germancarforum.com/threads/mercedes-benz-e-class-w212-facelift.47815/

Locking this thread...