PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - What does the C in C-class stand for?

JimSmith · #4 01-15-2005, 11:05 AM

Back in the days when the numbers were the leading characters of the model designation (300E, 560SL, etc.) the letters all had a specific meaning that distinguished the model based on a feature. For example, the "E" stood for Einspritzung which means "Fuel Injection" and was used to distinguish a car from a model with the same engine displacement that had a carburetor. Back in those days there was little to get confused by since the sedans came in only two chassis - the big, luxurious "S" class (""="Sonderclasse", or "Special" class in that role) and the smaller cars with no chassis designator. Two door models of the sedan chassis were denoted by adding a "C" at the time, so you got a 300CE for a two door model of a non-"S" class sedan with a fuel injected 3 liter engine, or a 560SEC to note a two door model based on the "S" class sedan with a 5.6 liter engine. A "D" meant a Diesel engine, no "D" was understood to be a gas engine. "SL" with the "S" adjacent to the "L" meant "Sport Leicht" for "Sport and Light" meaning a lightened version of a sedan chassis tuned for sporty driving. "SEL" was a "S" class sedan with a fuel injected engine and a 4 inch lengthened wheel base. And so forth.

Then, emissions standards standardized fuel injection, and there was the birth of the 190E or W201 chassis. This car caused some confusion in its designations, and so did the fact that all gas engined sedans
were now sporting an "E" on the rear. A marketing genius solved all this by deciding the middle of the line chassis, which was sold over here as the 300E, 260E, 320E, 300CE, 320CE, 300TE, 320TE, and I think, 300E 2.8 should be the "E" Class. This spawned the "A" class designator for the smallest MB sold in Europe, the "C" class for the 190E replacement size car, the "M" class for the SUV, the "K" designator for shortened wheelbase versions (when used as the last letter - right after the numbers the first letter can modify the engine designation, such as a C230K, which is a an engine with a supercharger or "Kompressor").

So the present "C" designator in front of the numbers that have also been perverted by the marketing department and no longer represent the actual engine displacement, just some engine displacement you might be familiar with, means the "C" size chassis. Jim