As the saying goes, "A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets," just as in the automotive industry, "user aesthetics" is a difficult question. Leaving aside the delicacy of women and the masculinity of men, everyone's age and culture are subtly affecting their car preferences, and it is difficult for products to be favored by everyone. Of course, new products may also bring unexpected repercussions.
On the eve of the 2018 Beijing Motor Show, Mercedes-Benz launched a Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury concept car. Different from the stability and atmosphere of the Maybach brand in the impression, the new car adopts "cross-border" design elements, and the silhouette of the new shape of the SUV and the details of the sedan have brought long-lost surprises. After four years, the spy photo of the Mercedes-Benz SUL prototype based on this design concept is exposed, and it is expected to be officially unveiled in 2024.
It can be seen from the naming that SUL (Sport Utility Limousine) represents a "sporty multi-purpose sedan", that is, in essence, although it maintains the body of the sedan, but thanks to the chassis architecture close to the SUV model, the passability and practicality of the whole vehicle are expected to be enhanced, so as to better fit the daily use scenarios of the owner.
Because it is in the testing stage, the new car spy photo shows the shape of the previous generation of Mercedes-Benz C-class, but it is not difficult to find from the picture that the new car has a shorter front suspension distance and a smaller door size. Referring to the previously announced news, the size of the mass production version of the new car may be closer to the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and will retain a higher ground clearance. The benefits of this design are obvious, and owners don't have to be too careful when passing through potholes in suburbs and mountain roads.
As for the power, with reference to the size and positioning of the vehicle, the new car is expected to be equipped with 1.3T, 1.5T or 2.0T engines, and provide light mixing or plug-in mixing systems. On this basis, the future price of Mercedes-Benz SUL is not expected to be too expensive, and as a "test model", a more affordable price is expected to help it increase sales and occupy the market faster.
Of course, compared to how the power performs, I believe that most people's focus is on the "value" and "price". In fact, Mercedes-Benz SUL is not the first crab eater of the "sedan SUV", such as versailles C5X, Ford EVOS, more or less have cross-border elements, and in terms of market repercussions, it has also won the favor of many young people. Moreover, with the endorsement of luxury brands, Mercedes-Benz SUL will also gain more good feelings on the basis of "citroën flavor".
As for the price level, it is still uncertain, after all, there are still two years before the official debut; but from the positioning and technical point of view, the future price of the new car will most likely be between A and C class. If the performance of the real car can really achieve theoretical advantages and the pricing is appropriate, it may really become a dark horse model.
Conclusion: As a new model of a well-known brand, the birth of Mercedes-Benz SUL is bound to encounter a lot of criticism, especially about the advanced design concept, which is difficult to be accepted in a short period of time. However, as the sentence "netizens evaluate the appearance, and the owner cares about the price", Mercedes-Benz's "True Fragrance Series" has many models, as to whether the new car can sell well, it may be a good wait and see.