Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Electrified C-Class aims to move the PHEV game on to new heights

- MATT SAUNDERS, ILLYA VERPRAET

MODEL TESTED C300E AMG LINE

Price £46,310 Power 308bhp Torque 4061bft0-60mph 5.8sec 30-70mph in fourth 6.5sec Fuel economy 47.7mpg CO2 emissions 13g/km 70-Omph 56.9m

We like

Nearly 50 miles of real-world electric range

Strong, accessible performance

Comfort and cruising refinement

We don’t like

Still some compromise to cargo capacity

Fit and finish of the cabin isn’t beyond reproach

Limited driver appeal

The W206-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class is a transitional car for one of the world’s founding car makers, and yet it remains singularly important. It will be the first C-Class not to offer multicylinder combustion engines, for example, but also one of the last new Mercedes models of any series not to be engineered for all-electric power.

Needless to say, that doesn’t mean it won’t be ‘electrified’. In fact, Stuttgart is aiming to attract particular attention, and win some key European fleet business, with the first of two C-Class plug-in hybrid models that it will offer. A diesel-electric PHEV will follow later, but for now, tax-conscious company drivers are tempted with the subject of this week’s road test: the new C300e.