Mercedes-Benz CLS axed in Australia, manufacturing ends quickly

Mercedes-Benz arguably invented the trendy four-door coupe section however as sedans – together with its personal – have gotten ever sleeker, its CLS has been squeezed out.

The shapely CLS is now being discontinued domestically after three generations as Mercedes-Benz welcomes the electrical EQE it’s promoting alongside the extra conventional E-Class.

“Orders have ceased and manufacturing for the present CLS will finish August this 12 months in preparation for the brand new E-Class,” mentioned a spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz Australia.

The car now not seems on Mercedes-Benz Australia’s web site, together with its inventory locator device.

It seems unlikely the CLS shall be changed, contemplating the E-Class has a brand new counterpart within the EQE, no next-generation CLS has been spied testing, and Mercedes-Benz has been discontinuing lower-volume fashions just like the SLC and two-door S-Class variants.

The CLS’ finest 12 months in Australia was its debut season, 2005, the place Mercedes-Benz offered 540 examples, adopted by 509 in 2006 and 501 in 2007.

It has ebbed and flowed since, as style assertion automobiles are likely to do, although Mercedes-Benz got here near reaching these tallies in 2013 (456) and 2015 (451) with the second-generation mannequin.

The third-generation mannequin has been a lot much less profitable in Australia, with simply 220 items offered in 2019, its finest 12 months. This slumped to only 30 items in 2021, growing barely to 55 gross sales in 2022.

For context, Mercedes-Benz has – till 2020, a minimum of – offered a minimum of 1000 items of the E-Class sedan and now-defunct (in Australia) wagon.

In Europe and the US, every era of the CLS has additionally proved to be much less fashionable than the final.

Per Carsalesbase, its finest 12 months throughout each these main markets was 2005 for the first-generation mannequin (34,982 in whole), 2013 for the second-generation mannequin (23,171), and 2018 for the present mannequin (10,056) – although that lattermost tally could have included some second-gen fashions.

The CLS Capturing Brake, a extra rakish various to the associated E-Class wagon, was solely provided within the second-generation mannequin and plans to supply a wagon model of the third-gen mannequin have been scuttled.

Nevertheless, Mercedes-Benz continues to supply a Capturing Brake model of its smaller CLA in different markets, although it’s not offered right here anymore.

The CLS wasn’t the primary car to be marketed as a four-door coupe. The Rover P5 Coupe was launched all the way in which again in 1962, whereas there have been a handful of “hardtop” sedans equally slinky to the CLS just like the Mazda 323 Astina Hardtop.

The four-door coupe appellation did fire up controversy with purists who believed a coupe wanted to have two doorways, but it surely spawned each a smaller sibling, the CLA, in addition to just a few imitators.

These included the BMW 6 Collection Gran Coupe and Volkswagen Passat CC. Nevertheless, these fashions have been shortly adopted by equally svelte however extra sensible five-door raise backs just like the Audi A5 Sportback and A7 and BMW 4 Collection Gran Coupe.

These ranks additionally grew to incorporate Mercedes-AMG’s personal GT 4-Door Coupe, which is definitely a five-door liftback itself.

Sedans have additionally continued to get extra rakish in design, leaving an more and more small area of interest for four-door coupes. And given that is all simply advertising semantics anyway, what’s to say the Audi e-tron GT isn’t a four-door coupe?

MORE: Every part Mercedes-Benz CLS