Photo: Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz launched the fourth generation of the C-Class in early 2014, but the German automaker is already thinking of how to make the fifth generation.
While the W205 model has gone through an effective diet that led to a weight reduction of up to 220 pounds (100 kilograms) compared to the previous generation, the next model will have to go even further. Mercedes-Benz plans to introduce more aluminum components in the manufacturing process of the next generation C-Class.
The presumably named W206 is expected to come to market in 2020, and it will have numerous aluminum components in its body. The move will make the next C-Class lighter than the ongoing model, and it will boast an improved fuel economy and dynamic behavior thanks to the reduced weight.
While Mercedes-Benz officials were not keen to specify figures, as the ongoing model is at the beginning of its career on the market, we predict the next C-Class will drop at least as much weight as the W205 model managed to lose when compared to the W204 generation.
The information regarding Mercedes-Benz’s plans for the next C-Class came from Jason Hoff, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz’s U.S. division. As Automotive News reports, he held a presentation at the Center for Automotive Research, and he announced that the next C-Class would come with advanced joining technologies, which include steel welded to aluminum.
The new tech will come after its suppliers in Vance, Alabama, will employ new joining techniques, which include laser welding, bonding, and riveting. The actions described above are done between aluminum and steel, two materials that have different melting points and that cannot be welded in a traditional fashion.
The automotive industry’s affair with aluminum is not a novelty, but binding the material with steel is a recent trend. Rival automakers including Honda and General Motors have their ways of welding steel and aluminum, while other companies have gone full throttle and made all-aluminum-bodied models, like Ford has done with its F-150 pickup truck.
The presumably named W206 is expected to come to market in 2020, and it will have numerous aluminum components in its body. The move will make the next C-Class lighter than the ongoing model, and it will boast an improved fuel economy and dynamic behavior thanks to the reduced weight.
While Mercedes-Benz officials were not keen to specify figures, as the ongoing model is at the beginning of its career on the market, we predict the next C-Class will drop at least as much weight as the W205 model managed to lose when compared to the W204 generation.
The information regarding Mercedes-Benz’s plans for the next C-Class came from Jason Hoff, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz’s U.S. division. As Automotive News reports, he held a presentation at the Center for Automotive Research, and he announced that the next C-Class would come with advanced joining technologies, which include steel welded to aluminum.
The new tech will come after its suppliers in Vance, Alabama, will employ new joining techniques, which include laser welding, bonding, and riveting. The actions described above are done between aluminum and steel, two materials that have different melting points and that cannot be welded in a traditional fashion.
The automotive industry’s affair with aluminum is not a novelty, but binding the material with steel is a recent trend. Rival automakers including Honda and General Motors have their ways of welding steel and aluminum, while other companies have gone full throttle and made all-aluminum-bodied models, like Ford has done with its F-150 pickup truck.
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