Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, Germany, Aug 01, 2008

Technical highlights of the E-Class and its predecessors


136 and 191 series (1946 to 1955)

*
Saloon (from 1947) with all-steel body

120 and 121 series (1953 to 1962)

*
Three-box body design cuts air resistance and fuel consumption
*
First Mercedes-Benz passenger car to feature self-supporting body design
*
Rear single-joint swing axle

110 series (1961 to 1968)

*
Dual-circuit brake system with brake booster and front disc brakes from 1963
*
Safety passenger cell with crumple zones in front and rear ends

115 and 114 series (1968 to 1976)

*
Diagonal swing axle: rear axle with semi-trailing arm, auxiliary rubber springs and torsion bar stabiliser as standard
*
From 1973 on ribbed tail lights to reduce dirt accumulation
*
The 240 D 3.0 becomes the first production car to feature a five-cylinder diesel engine

123 series (1975 to 1985)

*
Double-wishbone front suspension with zero scrub radius
*
Safety steering column with corrugated tube based on design by Béla Barényi
*
Station wagon with automatic hydropneumatic level control
*
300 TD Turbodiesel (1980) first car on the German market to feature turbocharged diesel engine
*
Experiments with alternative drive systems: hydrogen, electric motor, liquefied gas

124 series (1984 to 1996)

*
Single-arm eccentric-sweep windscreen wiper with largest swept area of any car in the world
*
Shock absorber strut independent front suspension with anti-dive control; multi-link independent rear suspension
*
Automatically engaging 4MATIC four-wheel drive

210 series (1995 to 2003)

*
Electronic Traction System (ETS)
*
Direct-injection diesel engine, turbocharger and intercooler in the E 290 Turbodiesel
*
1997: new-generation 4MATIC as permanent all-wheel drive with ETS
*
1998: diesel injection engines featuring common rail technology in the E-Class

211 series (since 2002)

*
Four-link front suspension; multi-link independent rear suspension mostly made of aluminium
*
Electrohydraulically controlled Sensotronic Brake Control (SBC™) system as standard
*
Adaptive front airbags and two-stage belt force limiter featuring automatic front passenger weight classification
*
Four-cylinder engine with two balancer shafts in the E 220 CDI
*
TWINPULSE system for mechanical supercharging in the E 200 Kompressor

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.