The Mercedes-Benz R-Class is a large luxury MPV introduced by

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

in 2005 for the 2006 model year. Following the success of the smaller A- and B-Class MPVs, Mercedes presented a concept vehicle, Vision GST (''Grand Sports Tourer''), at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show and a second one presented at the 2004 Detroit Auto Show, subsequently introducing the production version at 2005 New York International Auto Show. The R-Class was manufactured in

Vance, Alabama Vance is a town in Tuscaloosa and Bibb counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,529. It is most famous for the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plant, currently the only one in North America. The curr ...

until 2015 when its production was shifted to

Mishawaka, Indiana Mishawaka is a city on the St. Joseph River, in Penn Township, St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 51,063 as of the 2020 census. Its nickname is "the Princess City". Mishawaka is a principal city of the South ...

for a smaller volume production until 2017. The R-Class (W251) shared its platform with the M-Class (W164) and GL-Class (X164) and was available in two wheelbase lengths: standard and long . The R-Class was sold in the United States and Canada in long wheelbase only. The R-Class in both standard and long wheelbases were sold internationally until the end of 2013 with exception of China where R 320 and R 400 with long wheelbase continued to be sold until 2017.

Updates

2007 changes

Mercedes-Benz announced in May 2007 that the R-Class model range would be expanded with more engine options and availability of rear-wheel-drive system for selected models in addition to 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system. A new smaller 3-litre V6 was available in both petrol and diesel versions. The seating options became more flexible, offering five, six, or seven seats. AMG styling option was added to the extensive list of standard and extra-cost options. File:Mercedes R320CDI L AMG-Sportpaket front.JPG, First facelift R320 CDI L with the AMG Line Package File:Mercedes R320CDI L 4Matic rear.JPG, First facelift R320 CDI L with the AMG Line Package Rear

2011 changes

The R-Class received a major update with facelift to the front and rear fascias, grille, side mirrors, and taillights for the model year 2011. The revised model was unveiled at the 2010

New York International Auto Show The New York International Auto Show is an annual auto show that is held in Manhattan in late March or early April. It is held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. It usually opens on or just before Easter weekend and closes on the first Su ...

. At the same time, the new 5.5-litre V8 motor was introduced to R-Class for the first time since the last R-Class with V8 motors, R 500 and R 63 AMG, were withdrawn from the market in 2007. The reintroduced R 500 was not offered in the North American market. The North American market continued with R 350 4MATIC and R 350 BlueTEC 4MATIC, both in long wheelbase form and with V6 engines only, for 2011 and 2012. File:2011-2012 Mercedes-Benz R-Class -- 05-01-2012.JPG, 2011–2012 Mercedes-Benz R-Class (US) File:Mercedes R 350 CDI 4MATIC Lang (V251) Facelift rear 20101017.jpg, 2011-2012 Mercedes-Benz R-Class Rear

R 63 AMG 4MATIC

The AMG version of the W251, R 63 AMG 4MATIC, was introduced at the 2006

North American International Auto Show The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), also known as the Detroit Auto Show as of 2022 and prior to NAIAS, is an annual auto show held in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., at Huntington Place. The show was held in January from 1989 to 2019. ...

as a 2007 model. It featured a handbuilt 6.2-litre M156 E 63

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and us ...

producing and of torque. The R 63 AMG was equipped with same engine, seven-speed AMG Speedshift 7G-TRONIC, and 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system from ML 63 AMG and GL63 AMG. The driver can manually select the gears by pressing the upshift and downshift buttons placed behind the steering wheel spokes if desired. No rear-wheel-drive option was offered in R 63 AMG 4MATIC. The top speed is electronically restricted to or with optional extra-charge AMG Driver's Package. Despite its heavy weight, the acceleration was brisk with time of 4.6 seconds. A high performance version of R-Class wasn't well-received due to its poor handling dynamics, especially with the heavy V8 engine. With 200 units built for the worldwide sale, this model was the rarest of R-Class and amongst the rarest AMG models. Due to extremely low sales and the lack of advertisement, R 63 AMG was withdrawn from the market in 2007, making it a single model year. File:Black Mercedes-Benz R 63 AMG f 2010.jpg, Mercedes-Benz R 63 AMG 4MATIC File:Black Mercedes-Benz R 63 AMG r 2010.jpg, Mercedes-Benz R 63 AMG 4MATIC File:IAA2005 R-Class (cropped).jpg, Mercedes-Benz R 63 AMG 4MATIC

Chinese market

From 2014 to 2017, the long wheelbase R-Class was sold in China only with one engine option in two different power outputs: R 320 4MATIC and R 400 4MATIC. The R-Class enjoyed a steady popularity in China with annual sales between 12,000 and 14,000 units per year. Due to its small sales volume, the production was shifted from Alabama to Indiana where the R-Class for Chinese market was assembled by

contract manufacturer A contract manufacturer (CM) is a manufacturer that contracts with a firm for components or products (in which case it is a turnkey supplier). It is a form of outsourcing. A contract manufacturer performing packaging operations is called copacker ...

AM General AM General is an American heavy vehicle and contract automotive manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. It is best known for the civilian Hummer H1, Hummer and the military Humvee that are assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana. For a relatively brie ...

from 2015 to 2017.

Technical data

Powertrains

The entry with (Long) in parenthesis denotes availability in both standard and long wheelbases. Otherwise, the entry shows the standard wheelbase only. The Long without parenthesis denotes long-wheelbase version only. The asterisk next to the figures denotes the long-wheelbase R-Class. The double asterisk denotes the optional extra-cost AMG Driver's Package.

Transmissions

All models except for R 350 4MATIC BlueEFFICIENCY, R 400 4MATIC, R 300 CDI BlueEfficiency, and R 350 BlueTEC 4MATIC use seven-speed ''7G-TRONIC'' automatic transmissions. The latter four models use seven-speed ''7G-TRONIC plus'' automatic transmission.

Safety and security

The R-Class scored "Good" in the

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is a U.S. nonprofit organization funded by auto insurance companies, established in 1959 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It works to reduce the number of motor vehicle traffic collision ...

(IIHS) front crash test but "Acceptable" in the side impact crash test due to the excessive load against the dummy's torso. After modifying the seatbelts and interior door trim for the 2009 model year, the IIHS rated the R-class "Good" overall in side impacts allowing the R-Class to receive the ''Top Safety Pick'' award. In the United Kingdom, Thatcham Research's New Car Whiplash Ratings (NCWR) tested the R-Class and awarded it the top "Good" rating overall for its ability to protect occupants against whiplash injuries. Thatcham Research's New Vehicle Security Ratings (NVSR) awarded R-Class with five out of five stars for vehicular theft deterrent and four out of five stars for breaking-in deterrent.

Gallery

File:Mercedes-Benz W251 front 20090204.jpg, Pre-facelift Mercedes-Benz V251 File:2006 Mercedes-Benz R350.jpg, Pre-facelift Mercedes-Benz R350 File:Mercedes R-Klasse Kurz 20090808 rear.JPG, Pre-facelift Mercedes-Benz W251 Rear

Sales

Mercedes targeted 50,000 sales per year, half of those for the North American market. While the initial strong sales of first two model years, 2006 and 2007, the sales fell in 2008 following the

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...

, reaching less than ten percent of ML-Class sales. Sales continued downward, and R-Class was discontinued in 2012 for the North American market and in 2013 for Europe and other markets — with exception of China where R-Class enjoyed popularity. Mercedes-Benz Metris introduced in 2014 is considered a successor to the R-Class for the North American market. In Germany, the limited engine choices and lack of available rear-wheel-drive option at the launch led to slow sales with almost 4,500 units sold in 2006. The sales decline followed for a few years despite adding more engine choices and rear-wheel-drive option. The 2011 mid-cycle refresh increased the sales to almost 2,500 before dropping to less than 500 units for the final model year, 2013. The cause of poor sales performance is hard to attribute, considering multitude of possible reasons. One is the confusing marketing of what R-Class is: Mercedes-Benz tried to persuade the customers that R-Class represented a new category of luxury passenger vehicle with the attribution of station wagon/estate, crossover, SUV, and van rolled into one. Additionally, Mercedes-Benz initially marketed R-Class as R-Class as a "Sports Cruiser" and later as a "Family Tourer". It also suffered the "image problem" caused by ill-fated

Chrysler Pacifica Chrysler Pacifica is a nameplate used by Chrysler for a variety of vehicles. The name was first used on a luxury minivan concept vehicle in 1999, and later a crossover concept in 2002. From 2004 to 2008, it was used on a mid-size crossover, and ...

that looked too similar to R-Class and was similarly sized despite R-Class having more luxury features and better managed launch. Chrysler Division of parent company,

DaimlerChrysler The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...

, had introduced Pacifica a few years prior to the R-Class introduction, and Pacifica was plagued with production and quality issues as well as poor marketing and severe lack of engine choices. Secondly, the customer preference had shifted away from MPV minivans and vans to CUV and SUV during the late 2000s and most of the 2010s. Thirdly, the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

of 2008-2009 greatly impacted the automotive sales and consumer's confidence along with strong increase in fuel price, making R-Class less desirable due to its higher fuel consumption. The mid-cycle refresh didn't help with sales at all despite improved fascia appearance more in line with ML-Class and GL-Class and better interior.

References

External links

* {{Mercedes-Benz vehicles R-Class Crossover sport utility vehicles Minivans All-wheel-drive vehicles Cars introduced in 2006 Rear-wheel-drive vehicles Motor vehicles manufactured in the United States 2010s cars