Mercedes-Benz E-Class

The designation E-Class is used for a series of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Since the second major model update of the 124 series in May 1993 and the associated change in model names, Mercedes-Benz has referred to vehicles in the upper middle class as E-Class. It was entered in the European Trademark Register for Daimler AG under registration number 000114827.

Along with minor design changes to the series, the models were renamed from, for example, 200 E (with gasoline engine) or 200 D (diesel) to E 200 or E 200 Diesel. The preceding "E" in the new designations stands for Executive , while the following "E" previously denoted an engine with (petrol) injection .

At the beginning of 2009, production of the 212 series began at the Sindelfingen plant. The Coupé and Cabriolet for the 212 series (" 207 series ") are built at the Bremen plant on the floor pan of the C-Class . In older series, the coupé and convertible were referred to as CLK .

The 213 series has been on sale since April 2016, the associated coupé has been on the market since April 2017 as the 238 series as the successor to the 207 series.

For decades, the E-Class was the best-selling car in the upper middle class in Germany and also in Europe. In 2005 and 2006 this was the Audi A6. Since 2007, the E-Class has been the best-selling vehicle in this class in Germany.

In Germany, the E-Class has an unusually high private share of all new registrations for this vehicle class. It is regularly represented in the top 20 private new registrations.

The series at a glance

1. Generation: BR 124 (until 1995)
2. Generation: BR 210 (1996-2003)
3. Generation: BR 211 (2002-2009)
4. Generation: BR 212 (2009-2016)
5. Generation: BR 213 (since 2016)

Type	limousine	Station wagon	Coupe	Cabriolet
1st generation	W 124 to 1995	S 124 to 1996	C 124 to 1996	A 124 to 1997
2nd generation	W 210 1995 to 2002	S 210 1996 to 2003	Coupé and cabriolet became the CLK-Class , which is positioned between the C- and E-Class
3rd generation	W 211 2002 to 2009	S 211 2003 to 2009	Unavailable
4th generation	W 212 2009 to 2016	S 212 2009 to 2016	C 207 2009 to 2016	A 207 2010 to 2017
5th generation	W 213 since 2016	S 213 since 2016	C 238 since 2016	A 238 since 2017

Timeline of the model variants of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class

Mercedes-Benz E-Class model history since 1993
generation	Sales description	body	1980s																								1990s																																								2000s																																								2010s
			4th				5				6th				7th				8th				9				0				1				2				3				4th				5				6th				7th				8th				9				0				1				2				3				4th				5				6th				7th				8th				9				0				1				2				3				4th				5				6th				7th				8th				9
1st gen.	200 - 500 / E 200 - E 500	limousine				W 124																				W 124 ( MoPf 1)															W 124 (MoPf2)
	E 60 AMG	limousine																																							W 124
	200 T - 320 TE / E 200 T - E 320 T	Station wagon								P. 124																S 124 (MoPf1)															S 124 (MoPf2)
	E 36 AMG T	Station wagon																																							P. 124
	200 CE - 320 CE / E 200 Coupé - E 320 Coupé	Coupe														C 124										C 124 (MoPf1)															C 124 (MoPf2)
	E 36 AMG Coupé	Coupe																																							C 124
	300 CE - 320 CE / E 200 Cabrio - E 320 Cabrio	Convertible																																A 124							A 124 (MoPf)
	300 CE-24 3.4 AMG Cabriolet / E 36 AMG Cabriolet	Convertible																																			A 124				A 124 (MoPf)
2nd gen.	E class	limousine																																															W 210																W 210 (MoPf)
	E 35 AMG - E 60 AMG	limousine																																															W 210																W 210 (MoPf)
	E-class station wagon	Station wagon																																																			P. 210												S 210 (MoPf)
3rd gen.	E class	limousine																																																																										W 211																	W 211 (MoPf)
	E 55 AMG / E 63 AMG	limousine																																																																												W 211															W 211 (MoPf)
	E-Class Guard	limousine																																																																																											W 211 (MoPf)
	E-class station wagon	Station wagon																																																																														P. 211													S 211 (MoPf)
	E 55 AMG / E 63 AMG	Station wagon																																																																														P. 211													S 211 (MoPf)
4th gen.	E class	limousine																																																																																																					W 212																W 212 (MoPf)
	E-Guard	limousine																																																																																																						W 212															W 212 (MoPf)
	E 63 AMG	limousine																																																																																																							W 212														W 212 (MoPf)
	E-class station wagon	Station wagon																																																																																																								P 212													S 212 (MoPf)
	E 63 AMG	Station wagon																																																																																																								P 212													S 212 (MoPf)
	E-Class Coupé	Coupe																																																																																																						C 207															C 207 (MoPf)
	E-class convertible	Convertible																																																																																																												A 207									A 207 (MoPf)
5th gen.	E class	limousine																																																																																																																													W 213
	E-class station wagon	Station wagon																																																																																																																															S 213
	E-Class Coupé	Coupe																																																																																																																																		C 238
	E-class convertible	Convertible																																																																																																																																				A 238

Previous models

The previous models in the same vehicle class were not yet known as the E-Class.

• 

  W 15 ,
  1931-1936

• 

  W 136 ,
  1936-1942; 1947-1955

• 

  W 120 / W 121 ,
  1953-1962

• 

  W 110 ,
  1961-1968

• 

  W 114 / W 115 ,
  1967-1976

• 

  Class 123 ,
  1975–1986

• 

  124 series ,
  1984–1993

Others

A French citizen registered the name “classe e” as a trademark in November 1992. In 1995 he had himself protected by an international registration for the German market and threatened Daimler-Benz AG (DB) with prohibiting the use of the name. The Frenchman received 150,000 DM from DB for using the right to use the name on the French market and a further 50,000 DM for using it on the Swiss market. The counterparties did not come to an agreement for the German market. DB went to the regional court and later to the higher regional court in Frankfurt am Main and demanded that the French trademark owner had no claims against DB. Both courts agreed with DB. The French moved to the Federal Court of Justice . The latter ruled in 2000 that it could be illegal if a private individual had trademarks registered for the purpose of blackmailing companies that would later use these brand names. The Frenchman had a large number of trademarks registered for which he had no obvious benefit. The defendant had around 50 trademarks registered, but was not the owner of a business at the time of registration. This is an indication of the wrongful attitude of the defendant.

Web links

Commons : Mercedes-Benz E-Class  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website

Footnotes

1. ↑ Brand entry E-Class
2. ↑ [1]
3. ^ BGH, judgment of November 23, 2000, file number I ZR 93/98, www.ratgeberrecht.eu