Whatever you think of the new styling directions at BMW and Audi, they don’t half shine a light on the rut that Mercedes finds itself in.
The new electric Mercedes-Benz GLC is just as shiny and new underneath as the BMW iX3, yet in giving the model the same look as pretty much every other Mercedes launched over the past decade or more, a lot of that fresh approach is lost.
The innovation in the car underneath fails to cut through on the surface, no matter how many LEDs are in the new GLC’s grille. 
Audi had been in a similar position to Mercedes until recently: styling stuck a constant evolution that after a while becomes samey and eventually even old in some of the surfacing and touches. You could guess what a new car would look like before the covers had even come off. 
The recruitment of Massimo Frascella from JLR emphatically addressed that at Audi, and his vision for a new four-ringed look was seen with the Concept C, another Munich motor show star. Whether you like the Concept C or not, it is something different, something more daring, not just another iteration of what has gone before. It’s a starting point for change.
BMW has never been afraid to reinvent its look itself and has been the boldest of the German premium trio with styling revolutions. You won’t find many kind words about its most recent styling departure, but with the new iX3, it has shown that a look that started as quite shocking and polarising can be refined into something more contemporary and palatable. It works. 
Since Gorden Wagener took the design helm at Mercedes in 2008, the styling direction has remained largely constant after he got his vision into the generation – and now generations – of cars that have followed.
What felt fresh and modern a generation ago under Wagener feels staid and done now. We’re ready for something else. Is Mercedes ready to take the design leap that its latest technology deserves?
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Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.
From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.
Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?, Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.
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