Mercedes-Benz C300 2014 News

Design of the all-new Mercedes C-Class wagon has plenty of style, yet doesn't appear to have sacrificed practicality.

Mercedes has given the coming C-Class a boost to a more upmarket level, drawing on styling and features from its flagship S-Class. The new C gets technology and cabin treatment that raise the bar against key rivals like the Audi A4 and the BMW 3 Series and 4 Series.Watch the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class video on our desktop site. 

The show stealer of Frankfurt 2013 is also its biggest decoy. Jaguar's gibber inducing C-X17 SUV concept is essentially window dressing for a far more dramatic announcement by Jaguar's global brand manager Adrian Hallmark.“We will have a rival for the BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedans in 2015,” he tells Carsguide. “It will be built in the UK at a new factory on new lightweight architecture. It's a world first aluminium monocoque.“Jaguar would like to change the vocabulary of prestige motoring from the ‘German Three’ to the European Four. We don't want to pick on anybody or nick their lunch. We want to attract people by the intelligence of our offer."Hallmark says the new sedan will run purpose built engines that will, in their various forms,  use less than four litres of fuel per 100km or reach 300km/h. Asked if coupes, cabrio and wagons would follow - in keeping with the Germans - Hallmark simply says the news sedan is the “start”.How will this model, the first ever purely Jaguar compact sedan, be known? “Well, possibly X-something, but not with the word 'Type',” he laughs referring to the ill-regarded rebodied Mondeo from the brand's Ford-owned years.Hallmark says the compact sedan could be expected to sell by itself a volume greater than the annual total of Jaguar's combined ranges. So what's with the C-X17 then? Hallmark refuses to confirm its production, although the new lightweight architecture would clearly fit this car, if not bigger, heavier Jaguars.“We,” he says, as in Jaguar/LandRover combined, “already have six SUVs. We haven't built this for fun. The reason for throwing this out there is that it adds colour, literally, to the saloon architecture story. And we want to test the idea of Jaguar SUV on people. We want to test the design, test the reaction to a shift in direction. We'd love to build it, but I won't confirm it.” 

It's still wrapped in camouflage, and based on the current C-Class body, but packs the 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 already fitted to a range of AMG models including the SL63.This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover  

The idea is good, and the green power pluses are mostly fine, but no-one wants to pay to play this way.Global sales of plug-in cars are currently little more than a trickle, even if Tesla of America is currently trumpeting a showroom success - thanks to massive government subsidies across the Pacific - that means its Model S outsold the about-to-be-replaced Benz C-Class last month in the USA.Here in Australia, Nissan has slashed the price of its plug-in Leaf by $7000 and has an $85-a-week repayment plan to try and entice buyers.But the numbers are not good and even Carlos Ghosn, global boss of the Nissan-Renault alliance that leads the mainstream conversion to battery power, says it's going to take time - and large-scale conversion work in China - to turn electric power into anything beyond an oddity.We're expecting the Renault Zoe in 2014 and it drives well and looks good, but Renault Australia has effectively cancelled its plan for a Fluence electric car because Better Place - the start-up energy company that's in all sorts of trouble - cannot deliver on its plans for battery-swap stations across Australia.But there is something new that could also help and it plugs into one of the oldest maxims in the car business - Racing improves the Breed.This tagline is mostly applied to V8-powered racers that have fuelled our appetite for V8 muscle cars, but it applies just as well - or better - to a new category called Formula E. Think of it as F1 with batteries.The plug-in racers are set to run in 2014 in a new world championship that's also intended to take the whisper-quiet contenders into the hearts of some of the world's biggest and best-known cities, including Rome, Rio, London and even Bangkok. The organisers are planning for 20 cars in 10 teams.Not surprisingly, Renault is an early adopter for Formula E and will supply cars and power packs, while TAG-Heuer wants to time the action and get a nice green rub-off for its watch business.“We believe that motorsport is an efficient manner to promote the efficiency of new technologies, and we’re eager to use that single-seater in FIA Formula E championship to show our technology is the best,” says Patric Ratti, managing director of Renault Sport Technologies.But the key to Formula E is huge support from Paris, and the global headquarters of the FIA. The French organisation is responsible for overall governance of world motorsport but is taking a growing role in road safety and the future of the automobile, including its electrification.It believes Formula E can be a powerful tool to drive electric power forward, as well as showcasing the advantages of plug-in power and the performance potential of battery cars.The conversion plan looks shakier in Australia, because we rely on dirty coal combustion for almost all our power, but it still has plenty going for it.A bunch of high-tech single seaters will highlight the latest developments in electric power and, provided no-one runs out of zap, it's a formula for potential success that could revive another of those hoary old slogans from the past.You know it - Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

Looking like a shrunken version of the all-new S-Class coming this year, it's still wrapped in camouflage during development testing in Scandinavia.

Hornsby’s fledgling Mercedes dealership has won the car maker's metropolitan dealership of the year award for the past two years.Greg Stewart, the dealership's principal, who has worked on Hornsby's north shore Auto Alley on the Pacific Highway for more than 20 years, credited local customers with his business's success.“We're a good community here Hornsby's a really nice place to sell cars,” he said. “There's a great bunch of people on the upper north shore.”The national award is based on a sales target and customer service feedback. “We have worked very hard on looking after our customers,” Mr Stewart said.The dealership has been in its present location for two-and-a-half years and the C-Class is the locals' favourite Merc. 

It's the clear sign that this is the next all-new Benz compact, taking over from the C-Class that already leads the field in Australia after a massive recent makeover.The next C-Class picks up the styling direction of the CLS, which is too brutal for many, with the promise of a miserly three-cylinder engine to open the action. Here in 2014 at a similar price to the current one. 

...under giant plastic camouflage panels.The new C Class is expected to follow the styling direction of the CLS, with more aggression and attitude, but with a four-door body that's much the same as today in size despite increases to cabin space. 

And Carparazzi artists have been busy on this sneak peak.They have stripped the camouflage away to show a car with a much bolder nose, in keeping with Benz's latest styling direction. But the new C also promises much more refinement and more cabin equipment to battle BMW and Audi. Here late 2013 at around $60,000.