Mercedes Confirms 2012 CLS Shooting Break; AMG Version
Mercedes-Benz recently announced it will produce a 5-door version of its popular CLS “four door coupe,” known as the CLS Shooting Brake (internal designation X218). Mercedes hopes to expand into a new market segment with the Shooting Brake, creating a “sporty four-dour Coupe with [a] sloping tail end…with extended space on offer and additional variability.” There you have it, as only a German could explain. Best of all, Stuttgart will be offering nearly all of the engines from the coupe in the Shooting Brake, including the new 5.5L twin-turbo V8 in the CLS63 AMG. While its too early to know if the CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake will be offered in North America, elsewhere it will offer a standard 518 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. Optioned with the “AMG Performance Package” the CLS63 produces a staggering 550 horses and 590 torques, allowing the coupe to blast to sixty in 4.3 seconds (expect 4.4 for the Shooting Brake) and achieve a terminal velocity of 186 miles per hour. Power is sent to the rear wheels via a 7-speed MCT automatic transmission. With the E63 AMG Wagon on hiatus until at least 2012 (when it will get Merc’s new M157 twin-turbo V8), the CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake may just be the solution for all those enthusiasts who demand utility and five hundred horses on demand.
Jan. 8th, 2011 (Source: Mercedes-Benz)
