2010 Mercedes E-Class Coupe is based on W204 C-Class Platform

Its odd that only a very few people noticed it last time.

For now I'll just add: What is wrong with calling this a C Coupe? There's nothing wrong with the C Class in the first place, and this car being a coupe would've warranted Merc asking a premium for it. And it makes no difference if this car shares 60% of its parts with the E, the E itself probably shares 60% of its parts with the C... It's that remaining 40% that makes the difference.

What Merc has done with this is create the impression that they're trying to fool their customers in paying more for a lesser car, in the process making it look like they're viewing the C as a less worthy car.

Just call the car a C Coupe and everyone will be on the same page.

Now that the car is redesigned it is actually worth the money.

what people should remember is that platform sharing is no where near the same as re-badging.

But who cares.

MB found a good gap in the market to fill the void between a 3 Series coupe/A5 and the CL/(maybe 6 series?)

Nothing wrong with using under-pinnings from another model to get the result you want.

As pimeov says it's less atrocious than what Toyota does with the Lexus ES. Infiniti atleast learned not to share the Maxima platform anymore and dropped the I series in favor of the GS...which is really a re-badged Skyline.

*Maybe MB could've called it the D Class instead???? just joking...

First and foremost, a true Mercedes-Benz coupe has no B-pillar, no matter what. That little, fixed window on the new "E-Class" coupe bothers me to no end. Is the convertible version going to have two pieces of glass sticking out of it with the top down?! If they need it there for structural or world-record aerodynamic purposes, then why not offer something stylish, perhaps something like the 1972-1981 SLC coupes' louvered rear window? Or, instead of an old-fashioned window, Engineering today could make the louvers move at the touch of a rear-seat passenger's button and Marketing could emphasize how this louvered structure anticipates a passenger's need to reduce wind buffeting while reminding us how the extra glass flap on the rear window of the 1963-1981 600 limousines quelled the same turbulence.

That little thorn of a window on the new car bothers me as much as that “bitch of a bearing wall” B-pillar and fixed (!) rear window on the first CLK. That first CLK and the new “E-Class” coupe are studies in cost-cutting. Don't forget that the 1993 Geneva Coupe Studio (CLK prototype) was presented without B-pillars! Hey, some BMW 3-Series coupes feature a pivoting rear window, at least.

Furthermore, the CLS sedan is marketed as a four-door "coupe," but are the designers unaware of the undeniable style of the 1958-1962 300d sedan as it sat with its frame-less doors, windows all rolled down, and removable rear quarter windows plucked? That open 300d sedan look is not just panoramic, it is positively defiant and dramatically cinematic. It really was "engineered like no other car in the world." I know side-airbags are important, but there has to be a more elegant solution than what these supposed coupes offer today. Isn't that what the Concept Ocean Drive promised?

As for the E Class Coupe, I agree with some of the above. What was wrong with CLK?