The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

17 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, May 20, 2009 Mercedes-Benz adds the stunning and potent E-Class Coupe for 2010 By Jim Robinson Carguide Magazine Metroland Newspapers SIENNA, Italy: In the teeth of the worst automotive downturn in living memory, Mercedes-Benz Canada posted April as its best month in history with a 21.3 per cent sales increase coupled with a year-to-date growth of 13 per cent. Sales of the SLK sportscar were up 44.4 per cent. The CLS sedan was up 35.3 per cent. Even used Mercedes vehicles were up 6.5 per cent. But the capper is April's results placed Canada ninth (that's right ninth) on the list of Mercedes-Benz' most successful markets worldwide. How is this being done? The answer is product planning. When Marcus Breitschwerdt took over as Mercedes-Benz Canada president and CEO six years ago, his background was on the product planning side of the company and he instituted a system of looking at specific Canadian likes and needs as opposed to just accepting whatever the Americans wanted. Relentlessly using focus groups and customer feedback, the Canadian arm pressed for cars and trucks fitted out differently and the result has been sales increase after increase. Fine-tuning the product for Canadian tastes means subtle differences even inside a single model range and such is the case of the 2010 E-Class Coupe as opposed to the 2010 E-Class Sedan tested on these pages previously. Canadians can opt for 18-inch AMG wheels while the V8 gets the standard AMG body styling that is also optional on the V6. The huge Panorama sunroof is also standard as are 10-way power front seats with memory. MERCEDES-BENZ E-CLASS COUPE 2010 A GLANCE BODY STYLE: Luxury coupe. DRIVE METHOD: front-engine, rear-wheel drive. ENGINE: 3.5-litre V6 (268 hp, 258 lb/ft); 5.5-litre V8 (382 hp, 391 lb/ft). FUEL ECONOMY: NA PRICE: NA WEB: www.mercedes-benz.ca agility to match. But more important, that mix of performance and handling was needed more than once to dodge inter-town buses that use their lane and then some on corners. We missed being sideswiped more than once by stabbing the gas pedal and squirting through. This ability to bob and weave within nano seconds of making a decision was due in large part to the standard Dynamic Handling Package. The four shock absorbers are constantly adjusted from soft to firm depending on surface conditions and driver inputs. An integral valve adjusts rebound pressure under low impact shocks but also acts as normal shock absorber when forces become more severe. Couple this with a suspension that quells dive at the front and squat at the rear and you have a very stable platform. And this can be enhanced by the Sport button that changes the handling character of the coupe from highway cruiser to autobahn bullet. When activated, it quickens pedal response, gearshift speed, traction control, shock damping and the speed-sensitive steering wheel response. Like the sedans, the coupe abounds with technological advances. One I love from the Continued on Page 18 Photo by Jim Robinson Stunning from any angle, the 2010 E-Class Coupe is also instantly recognizable from across a football field as a Mercedes-Benz. The coupes are rear-drive whereas the sedans use the 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. There is no hubris-spitting AMG coupe to match the sedan. When Mercedes is asked if there will there be an E-Coupe 63 AMG? It's no comment. Will there will be a convertible version - no comment. Will there be a clean diesel version? Again no comment. The sedan already possesses striking looks but the coupe improves on them with a roofline that swoops back and down before tucking into the rear much like the CLS Sedan. But what makes it work so well is an intriguing fender bulge that adds a sense of muscularity to the rear haunches before it too blends into the roofline at the rear. There's more to this than just style. The coupe has a co-efficient of drag of 0.24, making it one of the most aerodynamically refined four-seaters on the road today. More than that, you know this is a Mercedes-Benz from 100 meters away just by the way it looks which is exactly the statement Daimler wants its products to make. There are two 2010 E-Coupes based on engine size. The first is the E350 with a 3.5litre DOHC V6 producing 268 hp and 258 lb/ft of torque, while the E550 uses a 5.5-litre DOHC V8 making 382 hp and 381 lb/ft of torque. Fuel consumption figures had not been established at the time of this writing. The transmission on the coupes is the familiar seven-speed 7G-Tronic automatic that can be set in either Comfort or Sport modes. Acceleration from 0-100 km/h is 6.4 seconds for the 3.5-litre and 5.6 seconds for the 5.5-litre. Top speed is electronically limited to 210 km/h. I drove both the gasoline versions plus a not-for-sale-in-Canada (yet) E 350 diesel on the wonderful Tuscan roads and highways and enjoyed every single minute in this elegant looking package with the power and