Marc Lachapelle « Auto Show by Auto Trader

Posts Tagged ‘Marc Lachapelle’

Infiniti Essence Concept – a quantum leap hybrid

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

Infiniti will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary in North American this year and was celebrating its first in Europe in Geneva, where CEO Carlos Ghosn introduced Nissan’s luxury brand last year. What better way to underline this landmark than to unveil a spectacular concept car. The Infiniti Essence is an achingly beautiful rear-wheel-drive grand touring coupé that seats two in lavish luxury, propelled by a 592-horsepower gas-electric parallel hybrid powertrain. It is said to prefigure upcoming Infiniti models in style, performance and refinement, technical and otherwise.

Infiniti Essence Concept (photo: Infiniti)

Infiniti says that the Essence was designed in a spirit it has defined as “Dynamic Adeyaka”, offering a modern interpretation of some ‘very old Japanese traditions’. The Japanese word “Adeyaka” means “bewitching or fascinatingly elegant” and it fits the Essence perfectly. With the classic long hood/short tail proportions of the greatest GT cars, its remarkably smooth, flowing shape would befit Europe’s greatest marques, with a touch of the latest Aston Martins and the Ferrari F599 in profile view. It does away with cumbersome visual distractions such as side rear-view mirrors and door handles, replaced by tiny cameras and a couple of push buttons, respectively.

The car’s interior is just as original and refined, with an asymmetrical design that has all controls turned towards the driver, sitting in a black ‘cocoon’, while the passenger’s is an earthy shade of red, all finished in the richest-looking leather, suede-like Alcantara, alloy trim and wood surfaces hand-painted in the traditional Japanese lacquer tradition. A flat-bottomed steering wheel with large paddle shifters, chronometer-type dials, a short shift lever and a red started button are the main driving tools.

Infiniti Essence Concept (photo: Infiniti)

On the safety front, Infiniti adds two new technologies: side-collision prevention (SCP) and back-up collision prevention (BCP) to the full array of familiar systems. And in a practical, albeit highly-chic vein, the Essence gets a set of high-quality luggage custom made for its trunk, a joint effort between Infiniti and the famous Louis Vuitton craftspeople. At the push of a button on the key fob, the trunk opens and its floor slide out gracefully by electric power.

The Essence’s hybrid powertrain is built around a twin-turbocharged version of Infiniti’s 3.7-litre, double overhead cam V6 gasoline engine, pushing its separate output to 434 horsepower. It is combined with a new type of electric motor dubbed 3D. This slim, disk-shaped motor reportedly generates twice the torque of a conventional unit and is installed between the engine and transmission, cranking out 158 horsepower and instantaneous torque, fed by a lithium-ion battery pack placed under the trunk. This 3D motor can operate in propulsion and regeneration modes simultaneously, to keep the pack fully charged. The calculated combined output of 592 horsepower should make the Essence quite swift and its electric motor will let it glide forward silently as you pull up to the entrance of your chosen hotel. Classy motoring indeed.

Tags: Geneva 2009, Infiniti Essence Concept, Marc Lachapelle
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Dacia Duster Concept – the unlikely débutante

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

The odds of seeing the names Dacia and Duster used together rival those of winning the 6/49 jackpot with a single ticket. Dacia is a Romanian carmaker that sold crudely-built replicas of old Renault models in Canada in the 80s and Duster is the name of a hallowed family of muscle cars sold under Chrysler’s defunct Plymouth brand in the 70s. Things have changed drastically at Dacia since Renault bought the company in 1999 and sales have almost tripled since the launch of the solid, no-frills Logan model in 2004, growing from 96,300 units sold in twelve countries to 257,000 units available in almost fifty last year.

Dacia Duster Concept

The striking Duster, Dacia’s first crossover concept, was created jointly by Renault’s design studios in Romania and France. It blends DNA from a sport coupe and what Europeans call a MPV (Multi-Purpose Vehicle). At 4.25 metres, it is notably shorter than a Nissan Rogue (4.64 m) but has short front and rear overhangs and rides on a much longer 2.80-metre wheelbase. This yields better space in a modular cabin where you can slide the front passenger seat under the driver’s to carry objects such as a mountain bike.

The Duster has an excellent 0.30 aerodynamic drag coefficient, which translates into a fuel rating of 5.3 litres per 100km from the 1.5-litre, 105-hp direct injection turbodiesel, mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox. It is also said to go from 0 to 100 km/h in 9.6 seconds. Don’t hold your breath for it to come to Canada, alas.

Tags: Dacia Duster Concept, Geneva 2009, Marc Lachapelle
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Evolution of the Nissan Z

Friday, February 20th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

It was the Sixties. Muscle cars and American V8 power ruled over North America and Japanese manufacturers were still bit players. Nissan was called Datsun on this continent at the time and in 1969, it launched an all-new sports car as a 1970 model. With classic long-hood, short-tail sports car proportions and sharp styling, it was called the Fairlady Z in Japan but Nissan’s visionary US president Yutaka Katayama correctly believed that the name would not fly well here. He decided to call it the 240Z to evoke the 2.4-litre displacement of its engine. With the 151 horsepower of this inline, single overhead cam six-cylinder powerplant, the original ‘Z’ offered the performance of European sports cars of the time with much better comfort and reliability, at a very competitive price. It was a smash hit and pretty well rang the death knell of British sports cars in North America. Nissan proudly points out that it sold a half-million ‘Z’ cars in ten years while Corvette sales needed 25 years to reach this milestone.

1970 Nissan Fairlady z

The car’s model name changed to Datsun 260Z in 1974 when engine displacement was bumped up to 2.6 litres. The Z also became available as a 2+2 on a wheelbase stretched 11.9 inches (302 mm). Its svelte silhouette was further compromised the following year with the addition of clumsy bumpers dictated by new safety regulations in the US. Engine displacement was bumped up again, this time to 2.8 litres, in an effort to counter the horsepower and torque-robbing effects of the first emissions-reducing measures. The model designation thus changed again, to 280Z.

The launch of a new version prompted yet another name change to Nissan 300ZX in 1985 as the carmaker dropped the name Datsun to make Nissan the only brand for its vehicles worldwide. This new car also became the first Z to be powered by a V6 engine and the first to be available with turbo power. The naturally-aspirated version of this 3.0-litre single overhead cam engine was rated at 160 horsepower and the turbocharged variant at 200 horsepower. The Z had long been a successful racer too. In 1985, legendary actor/racer Paul Newman won the SCCA National championship in GT1 at the wheel of 300ZX. It was the 50^th national title for the Z.

An entirely new Z car was launched as a 1989 model, with sleek styling and an all-new platform with leading-edge features such as a kinematic, multi-link independent rear suspension. It was offered as both a two-seater and as a 2+2, on a 120-millimetre longer wheelbase. A 300ZX Turbo version was introduced for the 1990 model year, powered by a twin-turbocharged, 300-horsepower, 3.0-litre V6. The 300ZX was retired in 1996 after a twenty-six year run and a new Z sports car announced in 1999. The Concept Z was a hit at the Detroit auto show. Production of an all-new 350Z started in 2002 and it was introduced as a 2003 model, in coupe form. It was powered by a 3.5-litre, 287-horsepower V6 engine. A new 350Z Roadster was launched as a 2004 model. Horsepower was upped to 306 horsepower along with a slight restyling for the 2007 model year.

Nissan has revamped the Z car again for the 2010 model year. The 370Z gets a naturally-aspirated 3.7-litre V6 that develops 36 horsepower more than the twin-turbocharged V6 in the former 300ZX Turbo. The 370Z is lighter and wider than its immediate predecessor, under a fresh interpretation of the modern Z’s distinctive profile, penned by Canadian designer Randy Rodriguez. With an extremely competitive base price of $39,998, the newest Z renews with the clear focus and exceptional value of the original 240Z. It has everything to become, once again, a sports car for the times.

Tags: Auto Show, Canadian International Auto Show, Car show, CIAS, Marc Lachapelle, Nissan Z, Toronto
Posted in Gallery, Toronto 2009 | Comments Off

New Genesis Coupe priced to win

Monday, February 16th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

Korea’s number one carmaker is on a solid streak. Shortly after winning the overall Car of the Year award from AJAC with its Genesis luxury sedan, Hyundai unveiled the 2010 Genesis Coupe, its next contender, at the CIAS.

Built off the same rear-wheel drive platform as the Genesis sedan, the coupe will be available in two versions. The 2.0T Coupe is powered by a new, direct-injection, Theta II turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder that develops 210 horsepower and has a starting price of $24,495.

Hyundai Genesis Coupe (Photo: Isaac Adams-Hands)

The 3.8 Coupe gets an all-aluminum, DOHC V6 that produces 306 horsepower on regular gasoline and is priced at $32,995. Standard are a six-speed manual gearbox, 18-inch alloy wheels, six airbags, electronic stability control and ABS brakes. A premium package adds luxury and power accessories but performance enthusiasts will be more interested in the GT package that adds brakes from Italian master Brembo, a Torsen-type limited -slip differential, 19-inch alloy wheels, xenon headlights and special black leather seats with red cloth inserts.

Hyundai is also going racing with the Genesis Coupe in the Canadian Touring Car Championship with a pair of Auto Trader-sponsored cars that will be built at the Sprongl brothers’ famed FourStar Motorsport shop.

Tags: Auto Show, Canadian International Auto Show, Car show, CIAS, Coupe, Genesis, Hyundai, Marc Lachapelle, Photo: Isaac Adams-Hands, Toronto
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From green Insight to greener FC Sport Concept

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

They are set only a few metres apart, in the prime spots of Honda’s exhibit at the CIAS. Both vehicles tout their eco-friendliness and yet, a world separates them.

The blue 2010 Insight is a production model aimed at making gas-electric hybrids available to a wider range of buyers. It will be available to Canadian buyers next April.

Honda FC Sport Concept (photo: Isaac Adams-Hands)

The FC Sport concept, on the other hand, is as pie-in-the-sky as they come in the realm of automotive prospective, or fantasy. It’s a low-slung and radically-styled ‘design study’ for a three-passenger sports-performance car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell closely related to what Honda is using in its FCH Clarity sedan now in real-world testing phase. The FC’s driver sits in middle and there are seats on each side, set back slightly.

The Insight, on the other hand, has five seats, four doors and a hatch in the rear. It is powered by the latest version of Honda’s gas-electric, series-type hybrid powertrain that makes a 1.3-litre all-aluminum gasoline engine with variable valve timing and a 10-kilowatt (or 13 horsepower) electric motor work together, through a continuously-variable transmission (CVT) with estimated city/highway fuel economy numbers of 4.8 and 4.5 L/100km.

Tags: Auto Show, Canadian International Auto Show, Car show, CIAS, FC Sport Concept, Honda, Insight, Marc Lachapelle, Photo: Isaac Adams-Hands
Posted in Gallery, Toronto 2009 | Comments Off

Electric iMiev later, Sportback now

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

Mitsubishi is not letting the electric-propulsion movement pass it by. The iMiev microcar presented at the CIAS: “Is not a concept car or wishful thinking; it is a very real, practical battery-electric vehicle that has been tested for the past two years in Japan” says David Patterson, leader of the iMiev joint project on this continent. iMiev, by the way, stands for: ‘i’ platform, Mitsubishi, innovative, electric vehicle. Patterson mentions that the car will go on sale in Japan next summer and that it is currently being tested in California, possibly soon in Canada. And he insists that he’s working hard to get it sold here. Its heart is a 63-horsepower electric motor mounted in a mid-ship rear position and driving the rear wheels. Its 330-volt lithium-ion battery pack can be fully recharged in 12 hours on 110 volts and half of this with a 220-volt outlet. It can also be quick-charged in only 35 minutes with a proper recharging station.

Photo: Isaac Adams-Hands

And in the present tense, Mitsubishi is reviving the Sportback name for the Lancer family, this time for a ‘five-door’ hatchback model rather than a wagon. The GTS version gets a naturally-aspirated, 2.4-litre, 168-hp engine and a base price of $23,498 with the standard 5-speed manual and $24,798 with the optional CVT transmission. The Sportback Ralliart model is powered by a turbocharged, 2.0-litre, 237-horsepower engine coupled exclusively to a dual automated clutch sequential gearbox and it starts at $33,498.

Tags: Auto Show, Canadian International Auto Show, Car show, CIAS, Marc Lachapelle, Mitsubishi, Photo: Isaac Adams-Hands
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Genesis and Flex win top Awards

Friday, February 13th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

The Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan made history on February 11 by becoming the first Korean car to win the Automotive Journalists Associations of Canada’s (AJAC) overall Car of the Year title in the 24^th annual edition of these awards. The V8-powered, rear-wheel-drive Genesis 4.6 won by the narrowest possible margin over the fully-redesigned Mazda6 mid-size sedan, 803 points to 802.

The Hyundai and Mazda had previously won in their respective categories (Luxury Car under $50,000 and Family Cars from $22,000 to $30,000) and were competing for the top award with nine other class winners and contenders. All had been announced last October 24, at the conclusion of a week of comparative testing by 79 journalists in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Richard Russell and Steve Kelleher

After accepting the trophy from Car of the Year Group chair Richard Russell, an elated Stephen Kelleher, president and CEO of Hyundai Canada declared: “This is a very special award for Hyundai, it’s the first time that a Korean automaker has won this award, so it’s a landmark. It’s also a testament to the ability of our factories and R&D centres to produce top-notch quality and design vehicles, and not just in the subcompact or lower segments of the market, but with our new Genesis luxury car. For me, it really does validate the fact that Hyundai has arrived in Canada as a top-tier manufacturer.”

The Utility of the Year trophy went to the Oakville, Ontario-built Ford Flex crossover/wagon. The square-bodied Flex took the prize with a more comfortable lead over its closest rivals, showing a final tally of 776.4 points. The Subaru Forester and diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz ML 320 Bluetec’s respective final scores were almost identical at 760.6 and 760.1 points, respectively.

Clare Dear and David Mondragon

Receiving the award from AJAC president Clare Dear, Ford Canada president and CEO David Mondragon said: “The Flex is a great example of Ford daring to be different. It’s also built by Canadians for Canadians.” Mondragon later added: “This is a great alternative to the traditional minivan. Who wants to buy a minivan today? It’s the same old box that it was ten years ago. In this you can carry seven people, with great driving dynamics and great technology.”

A month earlier, to the day, the Hyundai Genesis had also won the North American Car of the Year award and Ford had won the Truck of the Year award, this time with its redesigned F-150 full-size pickup. In these awards, the Flex had been grouped with the cars, showing how blurred the lines now are between the various traditional categories.

Tags: AJAC, Auto Show, Canada, Canadian International Auto Show, Car of the Year, Car show, CCOTY, CIAS, Marc Lachapelle, Toronto
Posted in Gallery, Toronto 2009 | Comments Off

The Beautiful and the Strange

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

Automotive history is rich with fabulously striking and original designs, but there have also seen some strange creations along the way. Separate exhibits at this year’s Montreal International Auto Show displayed a lot of the former but there was also an unusual and nonetheless interesting sample of the latter.

Straight to Seventh Heaven

Visitors at the MIAS went right up to Seventh Heaven, where a few dozen of the most gorgeous, fast, luxurious and exclusive cars were again gathered this year. In this grand hall they were first met with a collection of convertibles from the Fifties, all glorious fins, chrome and bright colours as if lined up for a cool evening at the drive-in theatre or the town’s curb-service restaurant. The guest list read as follows: 1954 and 1957 Mercury Monarch Lucerne, 1953 Cadillac 62 Series, 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air, 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, 1954 and 1957 Corvette, 1956 Mercury Montclair , 1958 Ford Fairlane 600 Skyliner and 1957 Pontiac Star Chief.

Porsche 911 GT3 (photo: Marc Lachapelle)

In the same space were some of Europe’s finest exotics and sports cars; six Lamborghinis, five Lotus models, a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren roadster making its curtain call, a Porsche exhibit in which starred a track-bound GT3 Cup car, four Aston Martins, a trio of Bentleys, two Maseratis and a brace of Ferraris, from the $318,000 F430 Spider to the $418,000 F599 Fiorano GTB.

Icons and oddities

Further along, visitors came to a very different collection of vehicles under the theme ‘Innovation, Evolution’. They were first met by a 1971 version of the Citroën DS 21, one of the most technically brilliant and forward-thinking cars ever designed, paired with a gorgeous 1953 Studebaker Regal Commander styled by the legendary Raymond Loewy, often referred to as the ‘father of industrial design’.

1979 Ford Pinto (photo: Marc Lachapelle)

A few paces further were three cars from defunct American Motors that are famous in their own quirky way: a 1973 AMC Gremlin, a 1973 Javelin and a 1976 AMC Pacer that had baby-boomer dads recalling its nickname – the Aquarium – to befuddled kids. Teens found the Pacer quite cool. Right next to these were two cars with a rich popular history of their own. While the stainless steel-bodied 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 recalls at once the industrial fiasco of its brief production and the subsequent fame it acquired as a time-travel machine in the Back to the Future films, the 1979 Ford Pinto is mostly infamous for a fuel tank too prone to explode in case of a rear impact.

Swiss imagination and wizardry

Aligned in their own section of the same hall were three of the perfectly unique creations of automotive wizard Frank Rinderknecht, the soul and brains behind Rinspeed. This small tuning firm based in Switzerland has amazed and fascinated visitors and journalists at the Geneva Auto Show with a new creation annually for the past 15 years. As a special guest of the 2009 MIAS, Mr. Rinderknecht brought three of his designs: the eXasis, with its transparent plastic body; the Senso, a car that reacts to its driver’s moods and emotions and the Splash in which he set a Guinness World Record for hydrofoil cars by crossing the English Channel in 2006. The Splash is powered by a turbocharged, 750 cc twin-cylinder engine that develops 140-horsepower on natural gas, enough for a top speed of 80 km/h on water and 200 km/h on dry land.

: Citroen Studebaker

: Rinspeed Splash

: Rinspeed Senso

: Rinspeed Exasis

: Porsche 911 GT3

: Frank Rinderknecht

: 1979 Ford Pinto

: Ferrari f430 Scuderia

: 1981 Delorean

: 1976 AMC Pacer

: 1973 AMC Javelin Hornet

Tags: 2009, Auto Show, Car show, Marc Lachapelle, Montreal Auto Show, salon auto montreal, salon de l'auto
Posted in Gallery, Montreal 2009 | 3 Comments »

Hydro-Québec and TM4 at the leading-edge

Monday, January 26th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

The latest sports cars and exotics are always a great attraction at any auto show, but the biggest news at this year’s Montreal International Auto Show might very well be about a tiny Indian electric car that is powered by components and technology developed by Hydro-Québec and one of its subsidiaries, a few dozen kilometres from downtown Montreal.

State-owned Hydro-Québec, the world’s largest producer of hydroelectric power, has a long history of research on electricity and its virtually infinite uses. Teams within its research institute have been working on automotive applications for almost two decades and some of this research and development work has been spun off to smaller and potentially more agile subsidiaries.

Hydro-Québec CEO Christian Vandal and Québec Energy Minister Claude Béchard

Hydro-Québec CEO Thierry Vandal and Québec Energy Minister Claude Béchard

TM4 Electrodynamic Systems is among these and it had important news during press day. TM4 announced that the company had been chosen by Miljø Innovasjon, a subsidiary of giant Indian carmaker Tata Motors – also the owner of Jaguar and Land Rover – to provide electric motors and systems for an electric car ‘demonstration’ and testing program to be conducted in Norway over the next two years.

Electric car to brave Scandinavian winters

For this program, Miljø will build a hundred all-electric versions of the Tata Indica Vista minicar using components developed by TM4 over the past decade and trademarked as the MФTIVE series. Among these components are a permanent-magnet, 37-kilowatt electric motor with “the best power-to-weight ratio in its class and industry-leading efficiency”, according to its maker, and a Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery at the forefront of development for this critical element of electric propulsion.

PHET battery

The Miljø Indica EV, a prototype of which was on display in Montreal, is claimed to accelerate from 0 to 60 km/h in 9 seconds and reach a top speed of 110 km/h. It should have a range of up to 200 kilometres and can be fully recharged in 8 hours through a 16-amp, 220-volt outlet. And of course, it can reclaim kinetic energy through regenerative braking and coasting, like any good hybrid. The Indica can carry four adults and their luggage and it has airbags and ABS brakes.

Norway’s climate is much like Canada’s. TM4 pins great hopes on its successful completion and notes that its 37 kW electric motor can be used not only on pure electric vehicles but also on classic or extended-range hybrids with a conventional internal combustion support engine.

Is the long-awaited miracle battery finally here?

Right next to the Indica EV in the TM4 booth within the ‘Green’ section of the MIAS, scientist André Besner, head of the materials science department at Hydro-Québec’s research institute, was proudly extolling the exceptional virtues of a small green box with a clear cover. It contained a battery made up of a series of small, individual electrical cells and developed by Hydro-Québec’s ‘battery team’ under the direction of Karim Zaghib. The Lithium-iron phosphate battery (C-LiFePO₄), Besner explained, is safe, durable, powerful and both environmentally-friendly and relatively cheap to produce since it mostly uses iron, a chemical element that is extremely abundant but also much less toxic and costly than other chemicals such as nickel and cobalt used in other lithium-ion batteries.

According to Besner, you can literally drive a nail through a C-LiFePO₄ battery – a standard industry safety test – and temperatures will go up to about 130 degrees and the battery will keep working as if nothing happened: “the same ‘nail-test’ with some lithium-ion batteries with cobalt, for instance, will trigger a short circuit and an intense temperature gain of up to 400 degrees in only 1/10^th of a second and then reach the point of combustion.” Hydro-Québec also holds 90 per cent of the world intellectual rights to safe, non-flammable ‘dissolved salt’ ion liquids for batteries, another area where huge developments should be expected in the near future.

Hydro-Québec chief of materials research André Besner

The Lithium-Phosphate Iron battery (LiFePO₄) was invented in 1995 at the University of Texas by John Goodenough, a Ph.D. in physics, and subsequently developed by Hydro-Québec at its research institute in Varennes, Québec, from 1997 to 2001. This work led to a substantial improvement of the battery’s conductivity – the weak point of the original design – through the addition of carbon molecule to the iron phosphate particles, turning it into the C-LiFePO₄ battery displayed in Montreal. The PHET ‘environfriendly’ C-LiFePO₄ battery is currently made by Pihsiang Energy Technology, a Taiwanese company that holds exclusive mass production rights from Phostech inc. the Québec-based licensee of the world patent for the Carbon-coated Lithium Iron Phosphate battery jointly held by Doctor John Goodenough, the University of Texas and Hydro-Québec. Doctor Besner also mentioned that the next generation of the Tesla electric sports car would use a C-LiFePO₄ battery pack made by Pihsiang.

Interestingly and ironically, the electric concept car and hybrid production cars shown by Chinese carmaker BYD (Build Your Dreams) at the recent North American International Auto Show in Detroit also use iron phosphate batteries which BYD laconically calls its ‘Fe’ batteries. According to Hydro-Québec’s André Besner, the battery technology used in these vehicles by BYD – reportedly also the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery manufacturer – is effectively identical to the C-LiFePO₄ battery for which it jointly holds world patents: “No patents were originally filed in China (for this technology) so they are legal as long as they operate within China, but when they decide to sell outside the country they will have a problem.”

: PHET battery

: Hydro-Québec chief of materials research André Besner

: ydro-Québec CEO Thierry Vandal and Québec Energy Minister Claude Béchard

: ydro-Québec CEO Thierry Vandal and Québec Energy Minister Claude Béchard

: ydro-Québec CEO Thierry Vandal and Québec Energy Minister Claude Béchard

Tags: 2009, Auto Show, Canadian, Car show, Concept, Marc Lachapelle, Montreal Auto Show, salon auto montreal, salon de l'auto
Posted in Gallery, Montreal 2009 | Comments Off

Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Monday, January 26th, 2009

By Marc Lachapelle

A new family of E-Class sedans and wagons is coming to Canada next fall. The cars were given a special introduction on the evening before the first press day but were not displayed on the show floor. The perfectly-recognizable front fascia now has pairs of pointy parallelograms for headlights instead of twin ovals.

A slightly creased line that flows almost the length of the car, front to rear, is said to evoke the famous 1953 Ponton Mercedes. It does give character to the car’s profile. The trapezoidal rear lamps look a bit derivative, on the other hand.

The new E-Class boasts the world’s best drag coefficient (Cd) at only 0.25, for a gain of 0.25 litres per 100 kilometres at 130 km/h. Only on the autobahn, of course. The car’s interior has also been entirely revamped with a flowing instrument panel design and it features new seats. The body shell has 30 per cent greater rigidity and the E-Class gets a new suspension to take full advantage of it, with an optional air suspension that works in synch with electronically-controlled dampers. The gasoline engines range in output from a 268-hp, 3.5-litre V6 to the 507-hp, 6.2-litre V8 in the E 63 AMG sedan.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class

The E 350 Bluetec sedan gets a turbocharged diesel V6 that delivers 210 hp and a massive 400 lb-ft of torque. With AdBlue injection, it already exceeds 2014 European standards. New 4Matic models get a fourth-generation all-wheel drive system that is more compact, lighter by 20 per cent and much more energy-efficient. As usual, the E-Class has a plethora of the latest safety systems such as headlights that automatically dim to avoid blinding other drivers and brighten up on dark roads.

A standard drowsiness detection system monitors more than 70 different parameters. Systems such as Night View Assist and the radar-based emergency braking system, new to the E-Class, come from the S-Class in updated form. Other safety systems include eight standard airbags, blind-spot detection, lane departure and retention, the familiar Pre-Safe system and a new ‘active hood’ that raises by 50 millimetres during a collision to increase the deformation range and further protect pedestrians.