Mercedes-Benz Cle200 vs Mercedes-Benz Evito

What's the difference?

Freedom of choice has been the focus for the luxury car industry for more than a decade. Buyers were free to choose from a seemingly endless amount of variations and bodystyles to suit their taste and lifestyle.

It gave birth to the ‘four-door coupe’ then the ‘SUV coupe’ and so many more. But now it seems car makers have reached their limit, as evidenced by Mercedes-Benz’s newest offering - the CLE Coupe and Cabriolet.

While technically a new addition to the range, the CLE actually replaces not one existing model, but two. The CLE will fill the gap left by both the C-Class Coupe and E-Class Coupe, allowing the German brand to simplify its line-up (ever so slightly).

So, what is the CLE Coupe and how will it live up to expectations of two different car buyers? Read on to find out…

Numerous commercial van manufacturers are adding battery-electric vehicle (BEV) variants to their model line-ups.

Anecdotal evidence suggests these vehicles are best suited to city and suburban fleet duties, in which they cover short-loop daily driving distances that are comfortably within a manufacturer’s claimed battery range and return to depots each day to be recharged.

However, given that it’s still relatively early days for electric vans, potential buyers are faced with numerous potential deal-breakers compared to conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) equivalents.

These include higher purchase prices, limited driving ranges, longer 'refuelling' times, heavier kerb weights (due to their large batteries) and resulting smaller payload ratings. And they are usually not rated to tow.

However, they can also offer lower operating costs. And they produce zero tailpipe emissions, which according to Mercedes-Benz "creates a powerful marketing tool (for buyers) to demonstrate their commitment to operating sustainably".

We recently trialled M-B’s Vito-based contender in this pioneering LCV market segment, to see how it measures up in Australia’s highly competitive medium-sized (2.5-3.5-tonne GVM) van market.