Developed inhouse, the 9G-Tronic gearbox will be twinned with the E350 BlueTEC engine in the Saloon, Estate, Coupé and Cabriolet, bringing a reduction of up to 17g/km of CO2 emissions. Figures now start form 149g/km for the Coupé, 154 g/km for the Saloon and Cabriolet and 159g/km for the E350 BlueTEC Estate. Meanwhile power has also been increased by 6bhp to 254bhp.

The E220 BlueTEC – which is paired with the 7G-Tronic transmission – also sees a 7bhp increase in power to 175bhp, with a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 16g/km. Excluding the E300 BlueTEC Hybrid, the E220 BlueTEC SE Saloon now offers the lowest CO2 emissions of the range, at 116g/km. 

Mercedes has also announced that Collision Prevention Assist Plus will be fitted as standard to every E-Class model. The system warns when a head-on collision is imminent and provides an adaptive braking assistance function to boost braking if the driver is not braking hard enough whilst activating the Pre-Safe technology. If the driver fails to respond autonomous braking will be activated at speeds up to 62mph to reduce the severity of a collision.

The system can also brake in response to stationary vehicles at speeds up to 30mph and prevent rear-end collisions at speeds of up to 24mph.

Mercedes is also offering Premium and Premium Plus Packages.  The Premium Package for the Saloon includes a Panoramic Glass Sunroof, Memory Package, Rear Split Folding Seats, and a Reversing Camera for £2,695 while the Premium Package adds Keyless-GO Comfort Pack and a Harman Kardon sound system for £3,895. Costs for the Estate variant are £2,395 and £3,495 for the Premium and Premium Plus Packages respectively, as they already have the split folding seats and powered tailgate as standard.