Mercedes has secretly and drastically frozen the size and weight of every new car it has under development, Leftlane has learned. Stung by criticism of the weight of its M-, GL and R-Classes and hit hard by rising fuel costs, the Mercedes-Benz board is now demanding a five percent model-on-model weight reduction before it will approve any new program.
It has also put an end to the traditional size â€creep†of replacement models by insisting that all new cars retain their current exterior dimensions.
“We have to reduce weight and to do that we have to keep the length of the vehicle to the numbers we have today,†Dr Thomas Weber, Mercedes-Benz ’s Director of Research and Development admitted in Spain last week.
“Our first decision as a board was to freeze it (weight) and the second for reducing it.”
“We have set up a clear strategic target of five percent weight reduction, successor-to-successor before any new generation will be approved.â€
Admitting the decision had been met with serious disapproval and complaint from engineers and marketers, he said Benz’s hand had been forced by its environmental responsibilities.
“I believe now we are in a completely new situation and we owe it to the future. The awareness of these environmental issues and the oil price are both on a completely new level.â€
While its engineers protested about the difficulties of reducing weight and maintaining safety standards, the product planners and marketing boffins believed limiting exterior size hampered their flexibility.
“It used to be that every new car got five to six percent heavier than the one before and five to six percent bigger in its length and width, too,†Dr Weber said.
“But everybody knows it (fuel prices) will never go back and we are running out of oil. We just need to know if and where the prices will stabilize.”
“For technology that was not economical 10 years ago; the calculations are completely different today, so it can be done,” he said.
“If you look to the overall trend a lot of customers like crossovers now, but one important question is the future of SUVs. Do they have one?â€
Story and interview by Michael Taylor.
