Saar: In all likelihood, the sexy coupé-styled, four-door saloon will be offered with petrol as well as diesel engines.

We were big fans of the first-gen Mercedes-Benz CLS. It perfectly blended the svelteness of a coupé with the practicality of a saloon. Then came the second chapter which wasn’t as great to look at as its predecessor but was technically superior. Last year, Mercedes-Benz took the wraps off the third-gen CLS and now we are getting it in India. On November 16, 2018, Mercedes-Benz India will launch the all-new CLS. The sexy coupé-styled, four-door saloon will become the twelfth new offering from Mercedes-Benz in India this year. The eleventh was the C-Class Cabriolet which was launched last month.

You would agree that in a beauty contest the new Mercedes-Benz CLS will certainly go home with the tiara. Some really interesting design touches include the frameless side windows, the arching waistline and the muscular rear shoulder line which seamlessly blends into the flat rear end. The styling is matched by substance with standard exterior features including LED-powered headlamps and taillamps, and 18-inch alloy wheels with mixed tyres.

Inside the cabin, the standard list of features consists of ambient lighting, a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment screen, an LTE-enabled communications module and Mercedes me connect services. As standard, you also get Lane Keeping Assist, Speed Limit Assist and, for the first time, space for five passengers. Needless to say, you can spend more to get more in and outside the cabin.

It is currently unclear which engine options will Mercedes-Benz India offer with the new CLS. In international markets, the new CLS is offered with four different badges – 350 d, 400 d, 450 and AMG 53. All of them, as standard, come with the 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system. If you opt for either of the first two badges, you will get a 2.9-litre turbo-diesel engine with 286PS/600NM in 350 d and 340PS/700Nm in 400 d.

The 450 houses a 3.0-litre petrol engine with EQ Boost technology, which is Mercedes’ 48-volt mild-hybrid system. While the combustion engine produces 367PS/500Nm, it is helped further, at certain intervals with an additional 22PS/250Nm from the hybrid tech. Lastly, we have the Mercedes-AMG CLS 53. It gets the same engine from the CLS 450 but has 435PS/520Nm on tap. That’s apart from the additional oomph available from the EQ Boost system.

We expect Mercedes-Benz India to introduce the new CLS with the 400 d and 450 badges in the first phase. Inevitably, the company will introduce the AMG-spec version as well. It is also a possibility that for India, Mercedes-Benz equips the CLS with BS VI-complaint engines from the C-Class to keep the costs in check. Once launched, the Mercedes-Benz CLS will compete with the likes of the Audi A7 and the BMW 6 Series.