RSS Official: 2015 Mercedes S-Class Coupe leans into the good life

[Ringo64]

Filed under: Coupe, Technology, Mercedes-Benz, Design/Style, Luxury

When debuting its Concept S-Class Coupe at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz made it no secret that the luxury coupe previewed a future model. As it turns out, Mercedes might as well have unveiled the car then, because the production 2015 S-Class Coupe is practically identical to the shapely showcar.

The production coupe will be unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show on March 6 and go on sale in the US this fall, and its reveal marks the death knell of the CL-Class, a line that itself effectively replaced the S-Class coupe (okay, the SEC) when it debuted. At launch, the only model here will be the S550 Coupe 4MATIC with a 4.7-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 that will make 449 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque paired to a conventional seven-speed automatic transmission. Because it uses the S-Class platform, there will be a similar mile-long options list full of acronyms for the buyer to choose from. Pricing will be announced later.

Whenever it can, Mercedes likes to show off a new technical marvel on each one of its high-end models. For the S-Class Coupe, that world premiere is something called "active curve tilting function." The system works with the Active Body Control system and its pair of front-mounted cameras. When the system detects an oncoming corner up to 49 feet away, it begins leaning the car up to 2.5 degrees over like a motorcycle to reduce lateral acceleration. Mercedes has been toying with 'leaning' cars for some time now - in fact, it showed a memorable roadster concept with much the same functionality, dubbed F400 Carving, way back in 2001.



While it looks nearly identical to the concept, we think the exterior is still an absolutely beautiful combination of harmonious, gently flowing lines. At first blush, our only concern is that its downward sloping nose can make this pillarless coupe look a little like a catfish from the front three-quarters perspective, but that may just be how it appears in photos. Either way, the indulgently scaled 198-inch long coupe has a front end with standard full-LED headlights with LED running light eyebrows, and the rear is punctuated by wide fender arches that appear especially aggressive.

The interior comes almost directly from the S-Class sedan, with sporty additions like additional metal trim and optional Bengal Red leather interior. The touchpad for entering data into the infotainment system from the S65 AMG is standard, and its head-up display is optional. A standard panoramic sunroof exposes two-thirds of the interior and uses Mercedes' Magic Sky Control technology to switch from transparent to opaque at the touch of a button.

Hopefully when it joins the US lineup this fall, the Coupe lives up to the achievement of the latest S-Class, which we called "the new standard bearer" last summer. Feel free to scroll down to read the nearly 3,000-word press release.

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2015 Mercedes S-Class Coupe leans into the good life originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Feb 2014 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[[ChaosweaveR]]

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