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Mercedes-Benz CLS, which was once praised as "the most beautiful Mercedes-Benz" by the majority of motorists, is about to stop production and terminate its 20-year mass production career.

According to foreign media reports, Mercedes-Benz officially confirmed that Mercedes-Benz CLS will officially stop production on August 31, 2023, due to the lack of growth potential of the CLS model and the impact of the group's strategic transformation. Earlier, Mercedes-Benz was rumored to be undergoing a drastic model reform. Of the 33 models sold in the United States and Europe, only 14 may be retained, and the rest will be eliminated, including the Coupe series and station wagons.

In 2003, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the Vision CLS concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Once it was unveiled, it caused great repercussions. Vision CLS perfectly integrated the car and sports car, so that the car and sports car are no longer independent species, but a fusion. The concept of Coupe has also been introduced into the automotive field by Mercedes-Benz. Although the Vision CLS is still in the concept car stage, but both the appearance and interior are very close to mass production.

A year later, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a production version of the Vision CLS at the Geneva Motor Show, and the first CLS was built on the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (W211) platform. After comparison, it is not difficult to find that the CLS is almost the same as the concept model that was unveiled in Frankfurt. In terms of power, CLS provides 3.5L V6 and 5.0L V8 power, and the maximum power is 272Ps and 306Ps, respectively. It is worth mentioning that the first generation of CLS also introduced the AMG version, with 5.4T V8 engine, maximum power 476Ps, followed by a more powerful CLS 63 AMG, with 6.2L V8 engine, maximum power 514Ps.

The second-generation CLS made its debut at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, and its new styling made it one of the stars in the media spotlight. The new car also shares the Mercedes-Benz E-Class platform, with 3.5L V6 and 5.5L V8 engines. It is worth mentioning that this generation of models began to have four-wheel drive models equipped with 4MATIC system to choose from. In October 2011, the new generation of CLS was launched on the mainland, with a total of CLS 300s, CLS 350s and CLS 63 AMG models, with a price range of RMB76.8-1.778 million.

The third-generation CLS was officially launched at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show, weakening the elegant atmosphere, strengthening the sense of movement and compromising sales with the new design style. In terms of power, the third generation CLS has been replaced with 2.0T straight four and 3.0T straight six engines, and the specification of its AMG model has also dropped, from CLS 63 to CLS 53, matching 3.0T straight six engine, maximum power 435Ps, maximum torque 520N ·m, compared with the first generation CLS 63 AMG, the power of the third generation vehicle has dropped seriously. In the Chinese market, CLS also launched 260 models, the price is 576800 yuan, equipped with 1.5T+48V light mixing system composed of powertrain, maximum power 184Ps, peak torque 280N m, the threshold for consumers to buy cars is much lower, you can buy CLS with more than 500,000 yuan.

2023 modified CLS models are on sale in China a few days ago, and the new car offers three models with a price range of 58.8-691000 yuan. In terms of power, the new CLS is still equipped with 2.0T turbocharged engine, and its transmission system is matched with a 9-block self-integrated gearbox, of which the maximum power of CLS 260and CLS 300is 197hp and 258hp respectively.

According to previous reports, in addition to the CLS, Mercedes-Benz will also reorganize the product matrix of some of its models. The C-Class coupe and E-Class coupe will be replaced by Mercedes-Benz CLE in the future. Mercedes-Benz CLE body size is between Mercedes-Benz C-Class and E-Class, built on the MRA-2 platform, using front and rear drive layout and providing convertible and hard-top models for users to choose from, which is expected to be officially released this year.

On the power side, given that Mercedes-Benz CLE and the new generation of Mercedes-Benz C-Class shared platform, the probability of the powertrain will also remain the same, and is expected to provide 1.5L four-cylinder turbocharged engine + 48V light hybrid system, 2.0L four-cylinder turbocharged engine + 48V light hybrid system, plug-in hybrid and AMG high-performance version and other power versions.

The GLC and GLE coupe will also launch a new generation of models, but this seems to be the last one, after which they will also be cancelled. In addition, the E-class station wagon will stop production in 2023; the C-class station wagon will stop production in 2028; CLS will stop production in 2024; the new CLA will be launched in 2025 with the Shooting Brake version, but this will also be the last generation; AMG GT will not launch the next generation.

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