By Moses Akaigwe 08072100049
That Mercedes-Benz ended 2016 on a victorious note by displacing BMW to occupy the number one position in the premium segment, was a very hot piece of news that is still rippling across the automotive world.
Though the C-Class remains the brand’s bestselling model, the new wave-making E-Class which has been garnering awards as easily as hot knife glides through butter since being unveiled, surely gave a good account of itself. In fact, the trendsetting E-Class wears as many medals of honour as it flaunts stunning innovations.
Standing out in the new E-Class Saloon’s streak of honours is the UK Car of the Year Awards 2017. The Mercedes triumphed over other sector winners to take the overall title which followed hot on the heels of the Best New Car the Best Executive Car won earlier.
Early in the last quarter of last year, the E-Class, also fondly called ‘The Masterpiece of Intelligence’, was announced the winner of the Best Business Car in the 2016 at the Telegraph Cars Awards which recognises the best new models currently on sale.
Mercedes-Benz is also the recipient of no fewer than three Automotive Interiors Expo Awards, thanks to the peers-beating E-Class. While Head of the Interior Design, Hartmut Sinkwitz, was voted Interior Designer of the Year by the 17-member panel of world-leading motoring and design journalists, the new car itself won the prize for the best interior of a standard-production automobile.
The third award for the interior was for the touch control buttons on the steering wheel which earned the Interior Innovation of the Year.
The car’s optional Multi-beam LED headlamps, considered a technical milestone by design experts, are the holders of Red Dot Award. Each headlamp comprising 84 individually drivable high-performance LEDs, automatically illuminate the road surface with a hitherto unsurpassed, precision-controlled distribution of exceptionally bright light – without dazzling other road users.
It was in this blaze of glory that the new E-Class drove into the country, courtesy of the sole authorised general distributor of Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the Nigerian market, Weststar Associates Ltd, which held a press launch for the luxury car in Lagos a fortnight ago.
A delighted Managing Director/CEO of Weststar, Mr. Mirko Plath, said the coming of the E-Class and three of its other siblings unveiled that day, mark the partial fulfillment of the promise to introduce a mix of new three-pointed star vehicles into the local market this year. More, he disclosed, would be coming later.
The Assistant Manager, Sales & Marketing, Aminu Asipa, who introduced the new E-Class, said it set standards in safety and innovative designs, drawing attention to its spottiness and fluent coupe-like silhouette.
He named some the new E-Class’ array of features as wider bonnet, single, fine tail-lights and long air intake, adding that the car is imbued with a technology pioneered by Mercedes-Benz – the Car-to-X Communication – that enables it communicate with about the condition of the road ahead, thereby expanding the functionality of live traffic information.
The new E-Class is available in Avantgarde, Exclusive and AMG equipment and trim levels, and now boasts a new bumper, an upscaled ergonomic {multi-functional steering} and more technologically advanced COMMAND system which is capable of interacting with related systems in other Mercedes-Benz cars.
For instance, up-to-the-minute information on traffic disruptions or slippery roads, is presented on the COMMAND online map display. The driver is then provided with visual and/or audio warnings of potential hazards.
Like the Multi-beam LED headlamps, the DRIVE PILOT is optional, but a milestone on the way to autonomous and accident-free driving. On all types of roads {expressways, rural roads and in the city} the innovative system is not only able to maintain the correct distance from vehicles ahead automatically, but can also follow in the same speed range up to 210 km/h.
In the new E-Class, efficiency is taken to a new level in the 4-cylinder, 2.0 litre petrol engine mated to the 9G-TRONIC automatic transmission, the world’s first 9-speed automatic transmission in the premium segment that can be deployed with longitudinally mounted engines.
Weststar confirmed that E-Class with the optional systems could be specially ordered by the car’s lovers in the local market.