We ran a piece about the E-Class a while back and the general consensus was that you’d rather Mercedes build cars with more of an individual personality, rather than them just being clones of each other.
After all, this is what the GLC appears to be – a regular C-Class clone or an overgrown GLA. It’s obvious from all the spy shots – even though Merc did a good job with the camouflage early on when it was hard to tell what the final product was being shaped into.
Now we know better. We can see the overall shape and we can assume that recent renderings pretty much have it right. So just like with E-Class moving away from an original design, will we feel the same way about the GLC?
It’s a bit more tricky with this one. The reason for that is that the GLK was never a fan favorite. Not everybody can say that they absolutely loved its design. Some are still caught up on the fact that it made its on-screen debut in a Sex & The City movie.
But what the GLK had going for it was precisely this, an original design. Its straight lines seemed almost truck-like. From certain angles you could swear that it was a very masculine compact SUV.
Will you be able to say the same about the GLC? Unlikely, even though it’s sure to be a better car overall, because…you know, of progress.
The real question soon could be, which all-new Mercedes-Benz model is going to break the mold? The GLE Coupe, C-Class, GLA and S-Class resemble each other a lot, and soon we might have to add the all-new E-Class and GLC to that list. Besides the two roadsters and the AMG-GT, we’re only looking at a handful of models that haven’t been inspired by the new S-Class.
Hopefully, things change with the new/upcoming generations a few years from now, but then again, there are those who don’t mind the unified design language. Lucky them.
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