Mercedes-Benz Mavericks: Not all Mercedes-Benz automobiles capture the public’s favor for their technical prowess or luxurious fittings, some divide public opinion.
These automobile outlaws, whether visionary or weird, disruptors and provocateurs, all have pushed, pulled and prodded at the cars, the roads and our very culture, changing the way we view our beloved motoring machines along the way.
With sometimes vile design decisions, and “experimental” body styles, these Mercedes dared to be different; and they built passionate defenders (and detractors) with some of their models.
The W210 E-Class – Beauty and the Beast
In 1995 Mercedes-Benz presented the W210 E-Class, which succeeded the popular W124, and the automotive world had another moment of collective disbelief.
The trademark four-oval headlights gave it a cheery front end that appeared to smile back at drivers — and quite a departure from the rectangular, businesslike headlamps on its predecessor.
This radical design direction divided opinion between members of the Mercedes camp.
The W210’s was a friendly face, the first prominent deviation from Mercedes’ traditional boxy look, predating the softer, more ergonomically swollen (or “curvy”) design language that would define the company for the next few decades.
The quad-headlight configuration was so iconic that it was used on several Mercedes models until 2010-ish, and the W209 CLK was the last model to utilize such a controversial design.
Where the W210 was controversial to look at, its product pitfalls were even more controversial. The early cars, notorious for rust issues that ruined the car’s reputation for bulletproof reliability, didn’t help.
Indeed, the W210 “earned a reputation as being one of the worst Mercedes ever built,” according to one automotive writer, all because of rust and quality issues.
But it is also, despite all its faults, the subject of a cult because it is so comfy to ride in, which has created space in the back which in turn has made it famous for that ludicrously beaming, smily face that remains as at odds with today’s angry front end designs as ever.
The R-Class–a Category-Resistant Luxo-Ute
Or, just maybe, there’s been no Mercedes that’s baffled the market quite as much as the decade-old R-Class.
But not even Mercedes-Benz can defy the laws of automotive nature as it applies to body styles: In the case of the R-Class, the company tried to invent a new automotive category, the “luxury MPV,” taking the minivan’s practicality, adding the SUV’s presence and the sedan’s comfort.
The marketing department had a tough time trying to position it – they variously decided to call it a “Sports Cruiser,” then a “Family Tourer” and even a “Grand Sports Tourer.”
The R-Class provided an appealing combination of interior space and seating configurations for either five, six, or seven passengers. Also of note was its long wheelbase (less so the American-market version) which offered an extended rear legroom that was limousine-like in stature.
And still consumers were mystified by its purpose. Was it an overgrown wagon? A less practical SUV? A minivan in disguise?
Even with some impressive engineering, including an AMG edition with a honkin’ 6.2-liter V8 making 500+ hp, the R-Class never caught on. Sales quickly dropped off following its debut, to fewer than 10% of the number of Mercedes’ M-Class SUVs sold.
The model was otherwise discontinued by Mercedes in most markets by 2013, but continued to be made for the Chinese market, where it gained a small following until it was closed in 2017.
The R-Class taught an important lesson: Technical excellence is no guarantee of market success if consumers can’t grasp a vehicle’s raison d’être.
Now those quirky vehicles have morphed into cheap, used cars that offer unexpectedly high levels of luxury and versatility to a small number of determined individuals who see their special combination of qualities.
The X-Class: Mercedes’ Failed Pickup Experiment
When Mercedes-Benz said it would build a premium pickup truck, the industry arched its eyebrows. The German luxury nameplate or marque, as the German say, of plush sedans and sophisticated SUVs taking on the rugged pickup? It was uncharted terrain.
A product of a collaboration with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, the X-Class was unveiled in 2017 and built on the Nissan Navara platform.
This was the issue which would hang around the X-Class like a bad smell for the entirety of its short-lived life: that it was nothing more than an overpriced Nissan with a three-pointed star.
Although Mercedes attempted to endow the truck with its own engines (including a peculiar V6 diesel alternative), interior appointments and styling, the X-Class struggled to rise above its prosaic beginnings.
It was a challenge for customer to rationalize the high cost with so many shared underpinnings with a far cheaper car.”
The experiment came to a crashing halt in 2020, when, just three years after being introduced, the line was discontinued after poor sales.
Selling just under 15,300 units in its final full year on sale (2019), the X-Class is one of the shortest-lived modern production vehicles to wear a three-pointed star.
Among car buffs, it is recalled as a curious but ultimately failed effort to marry luxury branding to utilitarian functionality.
The A-Class: From Tippy Tester to Trendsetter
When Mercedes-Benz brought out the A-Class, its first ever small car, back in 1997 the move was seen as an enormous risk.
The first generation A-Class was an innovative design using a “sandwich floor” to place the engine and transmission partially beneath the passenger compartment; the resulting package maximised interior space in a small car, improving both crash performance and interior accommodation.
But this groundbreaking design was quickly overshadowed by a PR disaster when a Swedish journalist swerved the car to avoid an obstacle during a “moose test” and the car flipped dramatically.
Mercedes stopped selling, issued a recall and made “very substantial changes” to the car, including stability control and suspension updates, at a cost of about $300m.
The A-Class wasn’t phased by its controversial introduction. In several generations it transformed from an upright, MPV-esque car into a mainstream premium hatchback and then sired an extended family of compact Mercs, including the CLA four-door coupe and the GLA crossover.
Original’s has taken over the innovative sandwich floor of yore but has a secure place in Mercedes’ lineup, successful with the younger buyer entering the brand.
The B-Class: America’s Snub of the Compact MPV
A-Class was soon followed by the somewhat larger B-Class in 2005, which didn’t reinvent the “sandwich floor” of innovation in that that was more of a family-friendly execution.
This subcompact MPV continued to offer the packaging benefits of its larger brother with a more conventional driving experience.
It wasn’t so much the design and engineering that were controversial with the B-Class as Mercedes’ market positioning.
And even though the model was selling well in Europe, Canada, and other markets around the world, Mercedes was intractably opposed to selling it in the United States—the planet’s most significant prestige car market. The company blamed pricing pressures and America’s overall apathy for hatchbacks and small MPVs.
This decision resulted in an odd situation in which Canadian Mercedes dealers near the U.S. border said that Americans were trying to buy B-Class vehicles, only to be told that they could not register them in the United States because of varying safety and emissions rules.
For the longest time the B-Class was this forbidden fruit that showcased the differing automotive tastes between North America areas.
The B-Class ultimately appeared in the U.S. only in low-volume electric form as the B-Class Electric Drive from 2013 through 2017, and the regular versions of the vehicle never reached us.
Available now in its third iteration, the B-Class remains a quirky expression of Mercedes’ commitment to a car market that its luxury rivals have largely abandoned.
The Maybach Revival: From Ruin to Thriving Sub-Brand
The historic Maybach name was resurrected as a standalone ultra-luxury brand of Daimler AG, rolled out in 2002 to rival Bentley and Rolls-Royce.
The cars that emerged, the Maybach 57 and 62 sedans, were technological tours de force that cost between $300,000 and $400,000 and offered virtually every luxury vous pouvez imaginer.
Critics pounced on the strategy. The cars were, however, clearly still of the same family, but you really can’t get away with that at this level of expensiveness. However, sales were below expectations and over the course of a decade only around 3,000 vehicles were sold—not the 1,000 cars per year projected. The experiment came to an end in 2013, when Mercedes shuttered the standalone Maybach brand.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. Ten years later in 2015, Mercedes brought Maybach back as a sub-brand (Mercedes-Maybach), applying the moniker to ultraluxe versions of its models, starting with the S-Class.
This new approach was much more successful, making Maybach the ultimate in Mercedes-Benz luxury rather than a stand-alone brand.
Today Mercedes-Maybach includes SUVs and limited-edition models, and it has established the sustainable space of its revival that the original never did.
SLS AMG: Gullwing Gamble
When Mercedes-Benz launched the SLS AMG in 2009 it sent a message by reviving the famous gullwing doors from the original 300SL of the 50s.
The SLS was the first car AMG, the performance arm of Mercedes, conceived and developed from scratch, a major investment and a big risk.
Several details of the car were controversial. As much as the dramatic doors were beautiful to look at, they posed a problem.
They needed a lot of room to swing open and the driver and passengers had to be a bit nimble to get in and out with style. The long hood and set-back cabin of this car meant polarizing proportions that some found perfect and others just peculiar.
But the SLS’s driving character was the most controversial part. Its high-revving, naturally-aspirated 6.2-liter V8 made wonderful noise and accelerated like a monster, but it also had a reputation for being nothing short of challenging to drive quickly—some people even called it “hairy” on the edge.
Reporters argued over whether this rugged persona was a feature or a bug, some praising its challenging reality, others castigating it in the face of slicker rivals.
Controversies aside, the SLS AMG played a key role in elevating AMG from being a tuning house to a manufacturer that produced full-fledged cars, not just reworked examples of standard Mercedes iron.
It tidily connected Mercedes’ illustrious history to its high-tech present, and it quickly became collectible even before production was halted in 2014.
On Being Bolder Than Yesterday -The Art And Science Of The Chance Python!
These polarizing Mercedes-Benz models all teach one important lesson about the brand: Its openness to taking risks has been key to its continued reinvention. Not all of them found success in the market, however each provided insights that helped shape future vehicles.
The R-Class was a head-scratcher to car buyers, but its idea of a roomy interior influenced subsequent three-row utes. The original A-Class’s troubled arrival prompted safer testing across the industry.
The difficulties of the first Maybach revival paved the way for a more successful approach to ultra-luxury models.
In an industry where the cautious play is often deemed the safe choice, Mercedes-Benz’s occasional willingness to court controversy and potential failure has been of tremendous service in ensuring that they remain at the vanguard of automotive design and innovation.
Whether commercial successes or rare flops, these divisive vehicles show that big strides don’t often come without a share of rancor.
The Mercedes-Benz mavericks remind us that consensus rarely accompanies real innovation — and that the cars we argue about most fiercely are the ones that stay with us the longest.