Still selling cars at a premium for the brand? Interpreting whether the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class is worth it

On December 17, Mercedes-Benz's new E-class was announced in Beijing, with a total of 260 and 300 configurations of a total of six versions of the model, covering two modes of front-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, with an official guide price of 449,000 to 529,800, focusing on the high-end car market of more than 400,000.

In fact, with the continuous involution of the traditional fuel vehicle industry and the continuous entry of independent new energy brands into the high-end market, the challenges faced by the new generation of Mercedes-Benz E-class are intensifying. It is precisely in this market context that the Mercedes-Benz E-Class has many advantages left, and can it impress discerning consumers? We might as well compare several mainstream competitors to see at a glance.

There is still a gap with second-tier luxury brands

First of all, when we talk about the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class, everyone should think of the Audi A6 or the BMW 5 Series, two old rivals. But in fact, in the second-tier luxury camp where the living space is more limited, there are already some models that surpass the new generation of Mercedes-Benz E-class in terms of configuration and cost performance.

For example, on the basis of the same displacement of 2.0T, the Cadillac CT6 has been equipped with a more advanced 360-degree panoramic image, while the 2024 Mercedes-Benz E 260 is still stuck in a simple reversing image. Especially for female drivers, the lack of this configuration obviously brings a lot of inconvenience to daily parking.

Secondly, the new Mercedes-Benz E 260 version is not equipped with configurations that domestic users value such as collision warning system, electromagnetic induction suspension, active noise reduction, and HUD head-up display. However, on the other hand, the Cadillac CT6, which is also a competing product, not only exists as standard equipment, but also has advanced configurations such as 9K car screen and VCS cockpit, which fully caters to the preferences of domestic users.

It is worth mentioning that in terms of optional price increases, the new generation of Mercedes-Benz E-class is not ambiguous at all. According to the information in the configuration table, the optional naked-eye 3D digital instrument requires 9000 yuan, 3100 yuan for the quiet cockpit, 8600 yuan for multi-zone intelligent air conditioning, 3600 yuan for the luminous grille, 7200 yuan for active atmosphere lights, 10400 yuan for Berlin sound, 17400 yuan for the intelligent navigation assistance system, and even two charging interfaces for the rear row, all need to add an additional 2700 yuan. If you want to choose all the functions, then the actual landing price will be much higher than the official guide price, and this is also somewhat contrary to the domestic user's "pursuit of cost-effective" car purchase concept.

The pressure on domestic brands cannot be ignored

As we all know, in the era of pure electric vehicles, more and more independent brands have begun to enter the high-end market, so the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class needs to face the strong attack of second-tier luxury brands, and the threat of new car-making forces cannot be ignored. Therefore, also in terms of configuration, this time we chose to compare the two domestic models of NIO ET7 and AVATR 12.

First of all, in terms of performance, NIO ET7 and AVATR 12 can almost be kept within four seconds of 000 acceleration, and the new Mercedes-Benz E-class although it has the help of 48V mild hybrid, but its score is only 6.6 seconds, of course, considering that fuel vehicles and pure electric vehicles are still very different in nature, so it is inevitable that there is some suspicion of "playing hooligan" when compared together. Therefore, in terms of other hardware, the ET7 and AVATR 12 from China are all equipped with air suspension, and have suspension height and soft and hard adjustments, while the new Mercedes-Benz E-class only has soft and hard suspension adjustments, which gives people a somewhat monotonous feeling.

Secondly, in terms of intelligence, although the new generation of Mercedes-Benz E-class is equipped with 7 cameras, 12 ultrasonic radars and 5 millimeter wave radars, as well as L2 full-speed adaptive cruise system, the degree of automation has been improved compared with the previous generation of models, but these configuration functions are still a bit of a "piece of cake" for independent brands.

For example, NIO ET7 can now be equipped with L3 level assisted driving, and AVATR 12 is equipped with 3 lidars as standard, in addition to Huawei's MDC chip, ADS 2.0 system and a series of black technologies, which can basically realize pilot driving between cities and highways.

Auto Network Review: The days of relying on brand premiums are gradually gone

Although from a historical point of view, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class has entered the Chinese market since 2002 and has been developing for more than 20 years. However, because the competition in the domestic high-end car market was not as fierce as it is today, relying on brand premium sales has become a way to show status.

Nowadays, with the rise of more and more independent brands, coupled with the continuous pressure of second-tier luxury brands, although the price of the new Mercedes-Benz E-class remains firm, the configuration has some gaps with competing products of the same level, and at the same time, various optional price increases still exist, further "dissuading" many consumers. Therefore, how will Mercedes-Benz's new generation of E-Class perform after its launch? Will monthly sales still reach the level of the same period in the past? We might as well look forward to it.