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| Mercedes-Benz E-Class |
Carbon Fiber, Once relegated to racing cars and racy trim pieces on production cars, is fast becoming the next frontier in the battle for supremacy among German automakers. BMW has led the way with project i, and the Volkswagen Group is belatedly following with limited-production plans for its XL1 concept. Behind the scenes, VW is battling with BMW and the Quandt family (which owns almost half of BMW) for control of SGL Group, the key carbon-fiber supplier for Project i.
Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, hasn't been standing on the sidelines. The company is no newcomer to the use of carbon fiber, having incorporated the material into the SLR McLaren, but Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche and his R&D chief, Thomas Weber, understand the need to use the material in higher volumes to counter Project i. The company signed a cooperation deal in 2010 with toray-a Japanese carbon-fiber supplier with similar expertise to SGL's-and has been dreaming up many new projects. Mercedes considered and then dismissed a subcompact BMW i3 competitor due to the financial risk of putting so much technology into such a price-competitive segment (the Quandt family is largely assuming this risk for BMW). It also thought about a supercar that would have slotted above the SLS AMG but rallized that the time isn't right for such a car. The winning idea, it turns out, is a four-door sedan. It may have the sex appeal of a supercar or the green luster of subcompact, but the mid-size sedan is Mercedes-Benz's signature product and carries all the brand's traditional values.
The E Superlight, as it's called at the moment, will be close in size to the CLS. It will likely cost as much as the next S-class, though, due to its exotic construction. The Superlight will be a true carbon-fiber vehicle, forgoing the aluminum platform that underpins BMW's Project i vehicles and the metal subframes commonly used with composite monocoques, as and the suspension. Insiders suggest the Superlight's curb weight could be as much as 800 pounds lighter than the current steel-bodied E-class. The sole intended source of propulsion for the E Superlight is a fuel-cell powertrain. Gasoline, diesel, and hybrid variations may come leter.
We don't know yet what visual theme the Mercedes board will go with, but it might resemble the illustrations shown here. According to the grapevine, we can expect rear doors that slide out and back to reveal an unobstructed passenger compartment-the carbon fiber structure should eliminate the need for B-pillars. Timing is still provisional, but production is expected to commence in 2015 and ramp up to nearly 20,000 cars a year by 2017. Not concidentally, that's remarkably similar to the carbon-fiber vehicle volume that BMW has in mind. (LATEST CAR NEWS)
