Gorden Wagener, a former competitive wakeboarder and hobby oil painter who’s led Mercedes-Benz design for two years, likes to drive in low gears to feel the rumble of the engine, regardless of the noise.
His uncompromising approach, evident in the $185,750 SLS gull-wing supercar and the $74,875 CLS luxury coupe, is being tested now that he’s brought his styling to the brand’s bread- and-butter model. The Daimler AG unit unveiled the updated C- Class, which starts at $34,865, this week in Detroit .With a jutting-out grill and stylized interior, inspired by the new CLS, Mercedes is betting the C-Class will attract younger drivers. Mercedes’ average U.S. buyer is 54, four years older than at Bayerische Motoren Werke AG , its larger rival, and six years older than at Volkswagen AG ’s Audi, according to Market research firm Strategic Vision.
“They needed to shake off the conservativism to get the street presence that gets noticed,” said Cameron McNaughton, a consultant at Rojek Consulting Group in Hillsborough, North Carolina , who’s advised Audi. “The next generation of potential car buyers is less interested in cars, so there is a need to engage them in the brand that’s different and design is a critical factor.”
The refreshed C-Class, which competes with BMW’s 3-Series and Audi’s A4, is “the most extensive facelift” in the German carmaker’s 125-year history, with more than 2,000 new parts and features such as three-dimensional maps, cleaner engines and a system to detect driver fatigue, Mercedes sales chief Joachim Schmidt said.
Sales boost
The facelift will probably help the C-Class gain an edge over the 3-Series and A4. IHS forecasts sales of 320,000 C-Class sedans and wagons this year, 20,000 more than both the BMW and Audi models. BMW may regain the lead when a new version of the 3-Series hits the market in 2012, IHS estimates.
Enhancing Mercedes’ appeal with younger consumers is critical to building demand for four new small cars, which will start rolling out later this year with a revamped B-Class. The models are necessary to keep pace with BMW and fend off Audi, which aims to become the luxury-car leader by 2015.
Wagener, a 42-year-old ruggedly built native of Essen, Germany , who splits his time between Daimler’s Stuttgart headquarters and his California home, has a competitive streak that propelled him to second place in the German wakeboarding championship in 2000. His sights are much higher at Mercedes, where he aims to rival not just contemporary models, but the hottest cars ever made.
“The goal is to create the most beautiful cars in history,” said Wagener, whose current vehicle is a matte-red CLS with white leather interior. “At the very least, we want to create the benchmark car in each and every segment.”
Mercedes’ new design may backfire, as the “very avant- garde” makeover risks alienating traditional buyers, said Jeremy Anwyl, head of automotive website Edmunds.com.
“Mercedes is in a position where they can almost dictate taste, but some people aren’t quite going to understand it,” said Anwyl, who’s based in Santa Monica , California. “The obvious goal is to reach out to younger, trend-setting buyers, and Mercedes is clearly looking for relevance in that segment, which is causing them to go off the charts on styling.”
