Having started out as the “Baby-Benz”, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class is today one of the most popular vehicles in the premium segment.

The decision makers at Daimler-Benz AG thought long and hard about introducing a compact model series below the executive segment in the 1920s and 1930s and then from the early 1950s onwards. Several projects were conceived, some of them very advanced, but for one reason or another they never came to fruition.

In the early 1970s, the idea of a compact Mercedes-Benz then got an unexpected boost: the Clean Air Act introduced under US President Jimmy Carter specified the fleet fuel consumption for the vehicles of all manufacturers on sale in the USA. This was know as the “Corporate Average Fuel Economy” (CAFE). For the year 1985, it was 27.5miles per gallon (8.3litres per 100 kilometres). This was a challenge for many car brands, including Mercedes-Benz, since the model range available in the USA, long one of the Stuttgart brand’s key export markets, was in the luxury market segment and at the high end of the power spectrum, with a resulting fleet fuel consumption above the specified limit. So the impetus to develop a new, more compact and therefore more fuel efficient model series to reduce fuel consumption came from an export market.

In January 1974 Head of Development Prof. Hans Scherenberg defined the key requirements for such a Mercedes-Benz. This is how he phrased it: “It’s clear that this must be a typical Mercedes-Benz. So we are not able to make too many compromises in terms of refinement, safety and the associated Mercedes-Benz characteristics.” The first specifications book he signed for model series 201 specified the following as early as 4February 1974: “The aim with this product is not to penetrate the medium-size-category markets, which have been occupied by brands such as Opel and Ford for many years. Moreover, the 201 model is to be deliberately distinct from these due to the trademark characteristics customers expect in terms of quality, safety and refinement.” Prof. Werner Breitschwerdt, who succeeded Scherenberg as Development Chief in 1977, didn’t feel the need to change any of this.

This meant that the brief was almost akin to squaring the circle: traditional Mercedes-Benz brand values such as comfort, safety, longevity and reliability, which had previously been implemented to perfection in larger vehicles across all generations, now had to be transferred to a compact vehicle without exception. This major engineering feat was a massive challenge. So no wonder the expectation among journalists was huge when the new compact vehicles in model series 201 were unveiled to the world’s press in Seville, Spain in November 1982. And they were not disappointed.

The first surprise was the design. A vehicle that was unique yet unmistakably a Mercedes-Benz was produced under the guidance of Bruno Sacco. Furthermore, the compact Mercedes-Benz had a low drag coefficient (Cd value) of 0.33 and a sophisticated, uncomplicated design with an undeniably youthful and dynamic elegance.

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