2019 Canadian International Autoshow |Mercedes-Benz Highlights
Don’t tell my wife that I spent Valentine’s Day with my other true love – I ditched work to go see a bunch of German girls in Toronto, hoping one would catch my eye. As it turns out, there were quite a few that were lookers – if only…
February 14th was Media Day for the Canadian International Autoshow, in Toronto. A few MBTN members decided to suit up and see what was out there. Although I’ve been to the Autoshow for the last 5 years straight, this was the first time that I had the opportunity to attend Media Day. Let me tell you, it was great! There were no crowds, no fighting against the throngs of people trying to get a perfect picture, no standing in line to sit in a base model Honda, and (almost) no locked cars (why Porsche, why?!).
The Mercedes-Benz Booth
Mercedes-Benz had a strong showing this year, with quite a few nice (car) models on display. Although, for some reason, they removed the owners lounge, much to the lament of a lot of people. That was something unique that MB had, oh well. On the podium display was the new EQC 400 4Matic, their foray into the EV market. While the front looks like it has a moustache, the rest of the car was nicely styled and sported the updated 2020 interior. The Electric SUV (eSUV? Is it still pronounced ‘ess-u-vee’?) is a welcomed sight to the market, and we are really looking forward to getting our hands on it when it’s released.
As the new entry to the Mercedes-Benz line up, at least here in North America, the new A-Class debuted in the A250 trim. In my opinion, this car is a better offering, stylistically, than the CLA. It too sported the new Mercedes interior, an amazing flat metallic grey exterior paint, and the new exterior light styling. To me, the rear triangular lights look a little too Audi-like with a bit of Mazda thrown in.
The New Styling
Do these lights say ‘luxury’ to you?
This was also seen on the new GLE. What do you think? To me, it doesn’t exude luxury and I personally prefer the old waterfall tail lights. Don’t get me started on the triangular front lights of some of the other models (I’m assuming Ford lawyers will be stating their case soon…). I wish they had attempted the wafer-style tail lights from the S63 coupe on some of their new offerings. BMW does this to their cars all the way down to the 2-series and it gives incredible depth.
BMW’s wafers-style tail lights on their 2019 2-series
2019 S63 Coupe sporting MB’s wafer-style tail light. Why they didn’t incorporate this into more cars is a disappointment
New to the show was the AMG GT63s 4Matic + (Whew…). While I still don’t know how it fits into the line up, especially with the CLS being freshly redesigned, it certainly was a great looking car. The proportions, while difficult to photograph, were spot on. It had an aggressive stance, a large diffuser with integrated exhaust tips, and HUGE brakes. The interior had the upgraded digital dash, which still feels a little weird in a full-on race car, but hey, it’s the future.
Best in show was still the GT (both the GTR, pictured above, and the GTC convertible). Those cars are still Mercedes’ most interesting production models in a long time. It surprises me that I don’t see them more often on the road. I think we are looking at a future classic that is a little more attainable than the SLS.
That pretty much sums up the Mercedes booth at the show. There was tons of interesting cars at the show (and even this incredible Lego Technik Chiron), which wouldn’t fit into this article. Did you see anything you love in the MB booth?
