Amid all of the action building up in Detroit for the annual motor show, Mercedes-Benz announced that 2015 shall be the ‘Year of the SUV’. What that means, according to Daimler AG’s Dieter Zetsche is that the marque will be bestowing four new luxury SUV’s onto the market.

Mercedes-Benz proclaimed that 2015 is to be the “year of the SUV” this past Sunday in Detroit.

Among the new SUV offerings will be the recently revealed Mercedes-Benz GLE coupe, and sibling GLE 450 coupe:

• The Mercedes-Benz GLE 63 AMG: This nice lady is the range-topper. She is a crossover packing a twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter V8 engine producing 577 thirsty horses. The 0-60 mile per hour jump is achieved in 4.2 seconds.
• The Mercedes-Benz GLE 450 AMG: This SUV sibling is a sports coupe that will help begin the new lineup of automobiles carrying the “GL” badging. Similar to the E-Class, she is mid-sized. Under the hood is a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 paired with a 9-speed automated gearbox pushing her from 0-60 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds.

The new GLE SUV is a bit of a SUV/coupe hybrid in terms of styling cues and performance specifications. It is intended to provide all of the expected perks of owning an SUV, such as ruggedness, but with all the sporty grace of a sleek coupe car. According to Ola Kallenius, Daimler AG Board of Management: “The timing is just right. The market for SUV’s is only getting stronger. It is a sporty coupe with SUV genes.”

That statement seems to ring true as more hybrid and small to mid-sized luxury SUVs roll out each year. Once frowned upon due to fuel economy and emissions, the new breed of SUV is every bit as economical as a smaller vehicle thanks to new engineering direction. As for the remaining 3 Mercedes-Benz SUV offerings, we must wait while they perform the usual slow and seductive reveals.

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