In 1976, Mercedes-Benz introduced the legendarily bulletproof W123, which was followed in 1984 by the W124 that carried the line into the early ?90s and the arrival of the round-lamped W210. Literally and spiritually, these cars are E-classes, made up of various sedans, coupes, wagons, and the odd limousine. But around the time the W211 generation hit showrooms in 2002, the designers and marketers decided that the segment could be further split and introduced the ?four-door coupe? Mercedes-Benz CLS-class in 2004. The E, you see, had always carried a whiff of stodginess, even when massaged into such memorable speed barges as the AMG Hammer of the 1980s and the Porsche-developed 500E of the 1990s. Now Mercedes has split the segment even further, with the new AMG GT 4-Door taking the place of the hottest CLS models, leaving the CLS itself to occupy a middle realm that suggests more style and sport than the E but less of the ineffable stuff than the family-size AMG GT. READ MORE ??
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