The launch of the new CL-Class in autumn 2006 will be the culmination of a Mercedes-Benz coupé tradition going back over 50 years. The two-door model combines peerless exclusivity and charismatic design with the sort of cutting-edge technology that no other manufacturer can match worldwide. The luxury Coupé raises the bar in terms of vehicle safety with the PRE-SAFE® brakes: the unique system automatically brakes the Coupé before an imminent rear-end collision. Furthermore, Mercedes innovations such as the Active Body Control (ABC) suspension system, the Intelligent Light System with five light-ing functions and PRE-SAFE® anticipatory occupant protection all come as standard. Two powerful engines with 8 or 12 cylinders are available, delivering a notable increase in output and torque. Thanks to their exemplary smoothness they also live up to the Mercedes heritage of superb motoring refinement.
The large Mercedes Coupés have been synonymous with style and exclusivity in the automotive industry for decades. They set the standard in terms of design and equipment, combine exemplary safety with an outstanding level of comfort and assured handling. In short, Mercedes Coupés are extraordinary dream cars - automobile classics.
The new CL-Class is another Mercedes-Benz masterpiece. Just as the luxury coupé points the way to the future with its innovative technology, the design has also set the mould for a new Mercedes style. Its hallmark is the interaction between distinctive tightly drawn lines with large, unruffled surfaces. This design idiom lends the Coupé its own particular expressive power, emphasising the calm and power of its powerful, self-confident nature.
Familiar Mercedes features have been given a contemporary twist, resulting in a harmonious blend of the classic and contemporary. Examples include the hallmark Mercedes radiator grille with its wide chrome louvres and the design of the C-pillar. The unique, slightly downwards-tapering pillar configuration is a typical feature of the large Mercedes Coupés whose roots go right back to the 1950s: in 1956 the 220 S/SE Coupé (W 180/W 128 model series) first captured attention with this striking C-pillar design, and a few years later the concept was further refined in the suc-cessor model, the 220 SE Coupé (W 111/112).
Other design features which were already acclaimed back then have also been reinterpreted for the CL-Class, keeping alive the large coupé tradition of the Mercedes-Benz brand: the fully retractable side windows, for instance, whose continuous aperture is not interrupted by a B-pillar, and the large, curving panoramic rear window. In the early days this was a typical styling feature of the Mercedes Coupés, and in its stylistically evolved form for the new CL-Class it is just as appealing as in the 220 SE Coupé of 1961.