The SUV can be compared to a meteorite, wiping out several species of car. However, for some strange reason, off-road wagons survived. In fact, Mercedes is among the few automakers to add something new, the E-Class All-Terrain.
It came out in late 2016, a bit after the new W213 generation of the E-Class made its debut. With rugged body cladding, air suspension and raised suspension, it seemed to copy Audi's tried and tested formula. However, the All-Terrain also offered Mercedes levels of luxury and prices to match.
While not the most popular vehicle in the world, the rugged E-Class wagon is going to receive updates, which we believe will debut in early 2020 for the European market. The model is especially important in Australia, where you can only buy this, not the normal wagon.
WalkoArt managed to capture a few seconds of footage where the 2020 or 2021 model can be seen testing on German roads. It's wearing some camo, though not enough to stop us from understanding its design.
Together with the rest of the E-Class family, it will have new headlights, narrower and designed a bit like those of the CLS-Class. Also, the front bumper and grille will be subject to change. around the rear, the taillights will have a mild refresh as well.
We're not 100% sure, but this particular prototype sounds like it's got a four-cylinder diesel engine. Currently, this job belongs to the base E 220 model with a 2-liter pushing 194 HP to all four wheels. However, Mercedes also makes a bi-turbo version and a hybrid in the E 300de that's not available on the All-Terrain.
For a while, it looked like Mercedes was developing a crazy off-road wagon with the 4-liter AMG V8, but this wasn't approved for production. So a six-cylinder diesel is about as good as it gets before this model eventually dies off and its development money goes towards EVs.
But you still have about five more years to buy the rugged E-Class and convince Mercedes it's worth keeping around.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News