Mercedes-Benz Korea rolls out 2021 new S-Class

Mercedes-Benz Korea officially unveiled its fully revamped new S-Class Wednesday. With the consumer confidence showing signs of recovery this year, automakers across the world are scrambling into a fierce competition over the market of top-of-the-line premium sedans.

For Mercedes-Benz, Korea is one of their most important markets. According to the German carmaker, an average 6,600 S-Class sedans are being sold in Korea each year, making it the third biggest seller of the high-end model following China and the U.S. Starting from the first 10 S-Classes imported in South Korea in 1987, the cumulative amounts of Mercedes-Benz S-Class models sold in the country reached the mark of 66,789 as of 2020. According to Carisyou, a local auto-market surveying agency, a total of 6,223 S-Class models were sold in South Korea last year alone, the eighth largest figure among all imported cars.

The “New S-Class” (pictured) is the seventh-generation S-Class, which is the first fully-changed model in eight years. The “Digital Light” headlights are comprised of 1.3-million-pixel modules and 84 modules of advanced multi-beam LEDs. Internal cameras are installed to analyze the eyelids movement of the driver and send off visual and sound alerts upon detecting the signs of drowsiness.

The new S-Class comes in both gasoline and diesel varieties. The gas mileage stands at 7.9km/L for the gasoline model (S580) and 11.4-12km/L for its diesel counterparts (S350d, S400d), and the prices range from 140.6 million to 218.6 million won including a 3.5-percent special consumption tax.


Hyung-Seok Seo skytree08@donga.com