S-class ugly, Mercedes-Benz no longer classic.

As the saying goes, the essence of BMW is in the 3 Series, and the essence of Mercedes-Benz is in the S Class.

Indeed, Mercedes-Benz is a luxury brand famous for its luxury and comfort, and large cars are undoubtedly its most powerful field.

Therefore, in the S-class of past dynasties, Mercedes-Benz's groundbreaking family-style design and innovative technology can often be seen, and then gradually "devolved" to E-class and C-class vehicles.

When the current S-class was replaced, Mercedes-Benz even put up the slogan "The inventor of the car invents the car again". The "design premium" displayed by this generation of S-class also made Mercedes-Benz gradually enter the period of "design bonus" for several years.

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Brilliance from W221 to W222

Specifically, compared with its predecessor W221, the design of the current S-class code-named W222 has not changed dramatically, but has inherited the tradition and brought forth the new.

The S-class W221

It can be seen that the lines of the whole vehicle have remained basically the same, and the contours of the headlights, air intake grille and taillights have not changed greatly, but in details, this generation of S-class "micro-rounding" can be regarded as a typical change.

the area of the air intake grille is slightly enlarged, and the LED headlights are further attached to it, which makes the front face line form a U-shaped feeling. Moreover, inside the headlights, the addition of "three bars" daytime running lights is also quite clever.

because the styles of current class s, class e and class c headlights are basically the same, it is an important means to distinguish how many bars there are in daytime running lights. class s is "three bars", class e is "two bars" and class c is "one bar".

s-class W221

The current S-class

is similar to the front face, and the S-class tail line also forms a U-shaped feeling, and the taillights are also integrated with "three bars".

The cash S-class after this change may be because the design of every detail is closer to the golden ratio, and its sense of elegance and luxury has been qualitatively improved compared with the W221 period.

It is worth noting that the promotion of W222 is not limited to the face value, but also seems to have become stronger in the gas field, and even vaguely has a somewhat "tiger head running" demeanor.

Mercedes-Benz S-Class W221

However, even though the breakthrough in design has been called qualitative change, it is still not as shocking as its "inner beauty" innovation.

The combination of double 12.3-inch penetrating central control panel+wood decorative panel +64-color ambient light is a combination of technology and classics, and Mercedes-Benz has handled all the elements subtly.

at that time, although most of the interior materials of the same level were sufficient, and even some cars were cheaper than the S-class, the S-class raised the visual beauty of the interior to a new height.

The current Mercedes-Benz S-Class W222

And the gradual decentralization of this set of interior also gives Mercedes-Benz an "interior premium". From the hard-core SUVG class to the entry-level car A class, most Mercedes-Benz models with this set of penetrating double-screen interior have improved their sales.

It can be seen that from W221 to W222, Mercedes-Benz seems to have created a new classic on the basis of the classic. The phrase "the inventor of the car invented the car again" was worthy of the name, and its interior style even led the interior design trend of the through-double-screen.

However, the success of the current S-class has also brought pressure to the design of the next generation S-class. Now, with the publication of more and more spy photos, the new S-class codenamed W223 has gradually revealed its true colors.

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Is the replacement of the S-class a retrogression of Mercedes-Benz design?

when the CLS level was first announced in p>217, most people were not worried.

CLS class of Mercedes-Benz

After all, the new generation of family-style design of Mercedes-Benz is mostly applied from S class, and the "triangle eye" of CLS class feels more like a test.

however, when the A-class, GLC-class, GLE-class, GLS-class and other models have successively adopted the same design idea, it seems that the replacement of S-class has been doomed to the same fate.

The spy photos of the factory released at the beginning of this year have no disguise. Although the pixels are poor, it can be seen that the S-class has adopted the design of "triangle eye" and hexagonal air intake grille.

if there is no accident, the design of the "triangle eye" taillight will also appear on the S-class.

The announcement of the E-level standard version of the mid-term change seems to further increase the authenticity of spy photos. After all, it has the nickname of "small S-level".

according to this, the foreign media drew a further imaginary picture of replacing the S-class, and it can be seen that the new family-style design has made the S-class younger, but the sense of elegance has been lost.

relatively more importantly, the S-class with brand-new family design can hardly see the inheritance of classics, which seems to mean that the S-class has gradually changed its taste.

while the appearance has been greatly innovated, the S-class interior has also undergone qualitative changes, but this time, it is hard to call it progress.

According to the previous spy photos, the S-class "double screen strategy" has gradually changed into a "big screen strategy", and the subsequent announcement of the replacement of the C-class interior seems to be further evidence.

according to this, foreign media have also drawn a rendering of the interior of the S-class. Compared with the appearance, there seems to be less controversy caused by the interior reform of the S-class. After all, the overall "aesthetic feeling" does not seem to be broken.

But vaguely, it means the retrogression of upgrading the S-class interior design. After all, the current S-class dual-screen design can be understood as leading the trend to a certain extent, while upgrading the S-class seems to be following the "big screen trend" initiated by Tesla.

the exterior design is no longer elegant, and the interior style has changed from leading the trend to following the trend. Even if more new technologies are applied to the S-class, it seems that it is difficult to make up for the decline in face value.

The decline in the design bonus of the new generation of Mercedes-Benz S-Class seems to provide an opportunity for the future replacement of BMW 7 Series and Audi A8.

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Summary

For luxury brands, most of them have formed family-style designs with a long history, and the inheritance of classics is of great significance to them. Mercedes-Benz, the inventor of automobiles, seems to be more important.

it seems that it is difficult to see the inheritance of classics just by replacing the S-class.

according to the evaluation of the new family-style design of Mercedes-Benz, it may be difficult to replicate the success of the current W222 series by replacing the S-class in the future.

Writing | Director Han

Picture | Network

Editing | Atractylodes macrocephala

Revising | Lan Qingqing

This article comes from the author of ChejiaNo. in car home, and does not represent car home's standpoint.