F irst and foremost come the dimensions of the car, which no doubt contribute to the look and necessitate changes to the C-class chassis on which it is built. To keep its dimensions compact the coupe has a body that is 183mm shorter than the C-class saloon, besides being 20mm lower. Wheelbase and width remain the same and the most noticeable difference, of course, is at the rear, where the overhang of the tail is 216mm shorter. Then there are the doors, a full 120mm wider because of which the B-pillars have to be pushed back and fitted with additional plate reinforcements along their entire length as well as with solid braces at the bottom.

Though the body shell is essentially the same as on the saloon, one important change a la the S-class and the flagship CL coupe is the new standard ellipsoid firewall concept to add to occupant protection and add that much more rigidity to the body structure. This consists of six different individual components with differing panel thicknesses which have been adapted to the actual load exerted for a good combination of lightweight design and crash safety. The ellipsoid firewall is connected to the front side members and can absorb and distribute the impact forces of extremely high loads evenly over a large area to prevent the force of the impact reaching the passenger compartment.

Apart from shortening and redesigning of the body panels for the rear floor assembly, the side members and the spare wheel, there was no reason for the Sindelfingen engineers to change the basic chassis technology in the C-class. The only major retuning that the chassis underwent involved lowering of the ride height and using slightly firmer shock absorber settings. Most of the aggregates are from the new C-class including the new three-link front suspension with aluminium tension struts and MacPherson struts. This new design makes a decisive contribution to the dynamic handling of the coupe. The struts fulfil a dual function, playing an active role in wheel location in addition to axle springing and damping. Effective compensation is also provided to vibrations resulting from tyre imbalance or brake force fluctuations. The standard torsion bar stabiliser is connected to the suspension struts through a linkage mechanism. During cornering at high speeds, special rebound buffer springs at the front shock absorbers reinforce the effect of the stabiliser and also ensure that the great handling characteristics of the sports coupe do not come totally at the expense of ride quality. The proven multi-link independent rear suspension does duty at the rear but with reworked track rods, hub-carriers and sub-frame. There is also a torsion bar stabiliser at the rear for increased stability at high cornering speeds.

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