Mar 13 2009
New E-class: hip to be square?
I’ll be test driving the new Mercedes-Benz E-class a week from now, so in the meantime I’ve been studying photos of it in detail. Is it just me, or is the car not particularly well proportioned? It’s modern enough, sharply chiselled and all, but that rear end just seems too flat and 2-dimensional to be elegant:
Even the interior looks like it’s been styled by someone whose only design tools were rulers and set-squares:
No wonder that couple is keeping their distance from the car.
I suspect the straight lines and uncompromisingly hard edges were incorporated mainly to impart a sense of solidity. If you recall, Mercedes lost the quality plot at around the same time it introduced rounded shapes into its products, like the first ‘four eyes’ E-class from 1995. It thought it could cut corners where it wouldn’t be obvious, but plummeting reliability scores and a serious loss of customer confidence over the next decade or so proved otherwise.
The company says this new E-class marks a return to the level of quality that made the old cars so treasured, even today. I’ll find out for sure next week, but if that’s true, I suppose I can force myself to get used to the styling.
