Originally Posted by JimSmith

Actually the W124 trunk design turned out to be a structural innovation that has been copied more than nearly any other feature on a Benz in a long time. The trunk lid comes down to the floor of the trunk, or about flush with the bumper, and does this without compromising the structural rigidity/torsional stiffness of the car. The tapered opening is a key to that structural innovation. All cars today with trunks that go down that deeply use this feature, although some, for styling reasons make the trunk lid and fender intersection look square by overlapping the trunklid and the fender structure. Jim