Mercedes-Benz is killing off 19 of its 33 bodies. Your beloved coupe, convertible, and wagon will be no more. It culminates in Mercedes’ rethink of what luxury is. Now, Mercedes wants to focus on cabin comforts and lightening the drivability tasked with the driver. The real question becomes how Mercedes generates interest and marketing around overstuffed seats. 

Why is Mercedes shifting away from coupes and wagons?

“At the end of the day, we simply don’t need station wagons or underperforming two-door offerings to boost volumes,” Mercedes told Car and Driver. “The most essential elements of sustainable contemporary luxury cars are space and time. That’s our number one priority—not another fancy body style, a model that only works in Europe, or one last stab at a dying segment.”

So, what we take from that is automobiles need not generate an emotional response. They only need to be comfortable. Like a Barca lounger. And make no mistake, Barca loungers exude a lot of attractions for car buyers. Not. 

How long before Mercedes stops making coupes and wagons?

So Mercedes plans on axing the C-Class and E-Class coupes and convertibles sometime in 2023. In their place, Mercedes will offer a CLE-Class as a two-door. The CLS-Class will fall in 2024. GLE and GLC coupes are up in the air. Some say they will, others say they won’t be renewed. 

As for the C-Class and E-Class wagons, they’ll soldier on until 2028. By the end of this year, the new E-Class wagon will be available. It will be the last E-Class wagon Mercedes will produce. When the CLA-Class wagon arrives in 2025, it will be the last wagon Mercedes makes. 

But all of this bad news doesn’t preclude there not being any coupes or convertibles. These two body styles are synonymous with Mercedes. AMG plans on releasing a coupe based on the iconic SL roadster. There will also be a new electric SL series soon.  

Does Mercedes need to be aspirational in the EV world?

What has floated Mercedes for decades has been the SLR McLaren, the 300 SL gullwings, and convertibles, as well as the AMG station wagons. All of these are the aspirational vehicles that Mercedes’ heritage compels buyers to go all in for. Will electric Mercedes sedans be as transformational as these past iconic cars? In 2023, it is hard to imagine they will. 

Mercedes says it is rethinking how its cars can fit into personalized mobility while conjuring features that will appeal to those looking for comfort. But without products that energize consumers with passion about the models being offered, it runs the risk of being nothing more than an automaker stamping out banal products. 

We like to think that Mercedes will engage better with its buyers in the future. In so to discover the course it took to get here is the best course to follow, regardless of being electric or internal combustion coupes, roadsters, or sedans.