From sketch to launch
Development on the 190 replacement officially began in October 1986, with design under Bruno Sacco. In 1987 the French designer Olivier Boulay joined the Sindelfingen studio and was assigned the exterior, smoothing the outgoing car's sharp lines. His softer, wedge-shaped proposal was chosen in 1989, the design was frozen and patented in 1990, and the car was launched in May 1993.
Platform and packaging
The new platform kept the W201's strut front suspension on an isolated subframe but added an all-new multi-link rear axle, adapted from the W124 and packaged so tightly that it allowed a flat boot floor and a 60 mm gain in rear hip room. The body used 41 percent high-strength steel with an elaborate crumple structure and a rigid cell, and at a drag coefficient of 0.30 it was the slipperiest car in its class at launch.
A digital first
The W202 was among the first cars Mercedes developed around a digital prototype rather than clay and hardware alone. The engineering teams consolidated their calculation methods into a single virtual model built from around 2,130 gigabytes of data, validating packaging and structure in software before metal was cut. The first production saloon left the line on 1 June 1993.
Engines and gearboxes
Engine work centred on the four-valve M111 four-cylinder and M104 six-cylinder families, both with light-alloy heads and a variable-length intake manifold. The five-speed automatic was a first for the segment, while a Getrag six-speed manual was reserved for the AMG cars. The 1997 facelift replaced the M104 sixes with the lighter M112 V6, added the 5G-Tronic automatic, and revised more than 1,500 individual components.