2019 Mercedes Benz GLE 250d The Stunning SUV Coupé

The Mercedes model that has proven most difficult for us to get our hands on was the GLE coupé.

But Top Revs finally got the chance to drive is through the capital recently.

We have had a few encounters with its siblings: The GLE, GLS and GLC, however, the GLE coupé is another kind of car altogether. It’s an expression of both the casual side of Mercedes Benz’s design and its urban, street side.

The GLE coupé was first introduced at the 2014 Beijing Auto Show and hit the showrooms in 2015. It is assembled in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in the US alongside the C Class, GLE Class and GLS Class. It’s a funny thing that its bitter rival the BMW X6 is assembled at Greer in South Carolina, which is only a five-hour drive away.

Looking at its origins, the first Mercedes SUV was the G-Wagon or Gelande Wagen, which was built in 1979 and is still in production. Mercedes refreshed its SUV line-up in the late 90s when it introduced an SUV called the M-Class, which it was known as until 2017 when the GL label was re-introduced on all Mercedes SUVs.

Onto its coupé origins: As far back as the 300Sc of 1951 to 1958, Mercedes Benz coupés have been icons in each generation – the GLE coupé joined the stars as the first SUV coupé. More recent in the timeline is the CLS, the first four-door coupé, a groundbreaking design that changed the definition of coupé and automotive design as a whole.

Although Mercedes was the first to introduce a four-door coupé, BMW was the first to take coupés into the SUV arena with the X6, and the GLE coupé is simply Mercedes’ answer to that.

The GLE coupé can be described as a rowdy looking car of rather extreme proportions and a stunning SUV coupé. It’s not a car for the executive, neither do I see corporate features anywhere near it as it’s more for the sportsman, business-savvy and perhaps even an executive away on a weekend.

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