In September 2018, Mercedes-Benz officially released the fourth-generation GLE car series, which was also renamed as a member of the GL series. The real new generation of works premiered, and the GLE Coupé car series, which came out after the 3-generation minor facelift, Mercedes-Benz officially brought the new GLE Coupé belonging to the second generation of works after nearly a year. In addition to importing the contemporary family design vocabulary, it has many similar identification features with GLE. However, in response to the different car models and market positioning, the first wave of power unit configuration, the general model only launched 2 diesel models to choose from, and the gasoline version directly launched the Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 4Matic + Coupé. Mercedes-Benz has only announced product-related information, and the production timing and listing schedule have not yet been revealed. It only confirms that the original factory is called 2020-style, so it is likely that the European IPO time will wait until the end of 2019. It is speculated that the domestic IPO will not have the opportunity to go public until 2020 at the soonest.
Although the GLE series has entered the 4th generation, and the new generation GLE is a product based on the 4th generation GLE, since the GLE Coupé only debuted in 2014 and locked in the BMW X6 series, the new GLE Coupé officially unveiled recently is actually the second generation. In terms of appearance, it is clear that the same family design elements as the GLE can be found. Looking at the front of the car, there are two built-in LED daytime running lights, a large-area hexagonal water tank shield, a left-right air dam design, and the three-dimensional cable of the hood, all of which give people a deep feeling that the GLE’s blood is thicker than water.
The taillight set also echoes the GLE’s double-block design, decorated by LED light bars, with sharp and round high-recognition features on the outside and inside, which is also the characteristic element of the new generation GLE and even the contemporary three-star family. As the name suggests, the GLE Coupé is a cross-border factor introduced into the coupe on the basis of the SUV, so the most important part of the appearance contour is the oblique line behind the B-pillar. Compared with the previous generation, the Coupé line at the rear of the new generation GLE is more slender and neat, and with the slightly prominent shoulder line on both sides, the visual change is more conspicuous.
The rear door line is closed with a slightly raised duck tail line, which is the visual feature of the new generation GLE showing a slender body shape. Of course, it is also because the body size is a little more enlarged than the previous generation. The new generation GLE Coupé has a length of 4,939mm and a width of 2,010mm, which is 39mm longer and 7mm wider than the previous generation. The more interesting part is that the wheelbase of the new generation GLE Coupé is 2,935mm, an increase of 20mm compared with the previous generation, but it is as much as 60mm shorter than the current generation GLE.
This difference is due to the different positioning of the product, and then the necessary adjustment of different settings. After all, the GLE is a 5 + 2 car frame positioning, while the GLE Coupé is limited by the appearance and shape, and the space configuration cannot be as plentiful as the GLE with a more square shape. Although the volume of the cabin space cannot be compared with the GLE, according to the original factory, the new generation GLE Coupé has an increase of 40 liters in ride space compared to the previous generation, and the volume of the luggage compartment at the rear has also increased slightly. The volume can be expanded from the base of 655 liters to 1,790 liters after flattening the rear seats, an increase of 70 liters compared with the previous generation.
In the design of the driving operation interface, it is no surprise that it is the same as GLE, the full digital interface composed of digital instruments and touch-sensitive central control screens, the three-spoke multi-function steering wheel, the touch handwritten version at the central armrest, the square air conditioner trend (currently only GLS and GLE are square trends), and even the styling style of the central armrest, the brand’s contemporary design and the style of the new generation of GL, can be seen in the styling of the GLE Coupé front desk assembly.
It is worth noting that the original factory launched the first wave of power unit selection. At present, in the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé series, only the GLE 350 d 4Matic Coupé and the GLE 400 d 4Matic Coupé are launched, that is, only two diesel models are selected. The engines used are all 3.0-liter straight 6 diesel engines codenamed OM 656. The power data of the GLE 350 d 4Matic Coupé is 272 horsepower and 600N.m maximum torque, while the power data of the GLE 400 d 4Matic Coupé is 330 horsepower and 700N.m maximum torque output.
Although Mercedes-AMG did not introduce the gasoline power unit of the GLE 450 in the GLE Coupé series for the first time, Mercedes-AMG was the first to introduce a high-performance version, namely the Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 4Matic + Coupé, its power unit uses a 3.0-liter inline 6-cylinder turbocharged engine, with EQ Boost light oil-electric hybrid technology, in addition to the gasoline engine’s maximum output of 435 horsepower and 520N.m maximum torque, the EQ Boost system can also provide an additional 22 horsepower and 250N.m torque, which also allows Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 4Matic + Coupé to complete the acceleration performance of 100 kilometers per hour in 5.3 seconds.
