Merc All Terrain targets Audi A6 Allroad 22 | 02 | 2016
THE LATEST MERCEDES E-Class Estate range will include an All Terrain-badged model which will pitch it directly against the likes of Audi's A6 Allroad.
Set to enter Scottish showrooms in October, with prices expected to start around £40,000, the four-wheel drive estate (pictured testing under heavy camouflage) will be offered as an alternative to Mercedes’ dedicated SUVs.
At the core of the All Terrain will be the fifth generation of Mercedes' iconic E-Class estate which, unlike the 2016 saloon, has yet to be revealed.
Related: New Mercedes E-Class starts at £35,935
While both the standard and 4WD estates will share the same aluminium and steel body, the All Terrain — as seen in the photograph above — has a number of distinguishing exterior styling aspects. These include additional cladding within the wheel arches, individual wheel design, integrated roof bars and more rugged front and rear bumpers with plastic bash plates.
When it's launched in October, the new All Terrain will be available with the choice of the same limited range of turbocharged four-cylinder and six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines as the latest E-Class saloon. It's also expected the four-wheel drive model will eventually be available with petrol-electric plug-in hybrid technology.
And while drive will be fed to all four wheels via the same four-wheel drive system as that of more road-biased versions of the E-Class 4Matic, across the All Terrain range the engines will be linked to Mercedes’ 9G-Tronic nine-speed automatic gearbox.
Related: Mercedes reveals F1 W07 Hybrid
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Jim McGill