A few more weeks, then Mercedes-Benz will present the Stuttgart answer to the BMW X6 in Detroit. Admittedly, presenting a full-size SUV with four doors and the roof shape of a coupe is not exactly logical, no, not even sensible. But the competitor from Munich has shown with the first BMW X6 generation that there are enough customers who like this paradox: less space, but more expensive.
What Munich did so successfully - that BMW X6 was only introduced in its second generation a few weeks ago - The Swabians now also want: A full-size SUV coupé with four doors.
With the GLE Coupé, Mercedes also presented the first model in which the name was changed. The Mercedes-Benz ML becomes the GLE and as a four-door with a sleek roof shape it receives the addition Coupé. Its normal SUV brother will simply come on the market as a GLE. While the GLE Coupé will probably already be seen in Detroit, the new GLE - the second Mercedes ML generation - is likely to be on display at the Geneva Motor Show.
Our Erlkönig photographer caught the GLE Coupé in the Leitwolf version: the GLE Coupé 63 AMG. Under the powerful hood, the new four-liter V8 Bi-Turbo thumps with probably a good 500 PS output.
Photos: SB-Medien / Stefan Baldauf