GLC will defeat Q5 and X3, says Benz

Having waited years for a mid-size luxury SUV, Mercedes-Benz Australia has declared its intention to take the GLC to the top of the segment, usurping the Audi Q5 and BMW X3.

Revealed overnight in Germany and on sale in Australia in December, the GLC is the second-generation replacement for the GLK wagon that was only ever produced in left-hand drive, much to the frustration of the local Benz business which has had to stand by and watch arch-rivals BMW and Audi dominate the emerging segment.

In fact, so far this year the Q7 remains Australia's top-selling luxury SUV bar none — with 1735 sales, up more than 30 per cent year on year — leading the X3 (1104) and Range Rover Evoque (1092) in the mid-size $60,000-plus SUV segment, which has grown another 27 per cent this year.

Last year Audi sold 3432 Q5s for a 27 per cent share of the segment, while 2842 BMW X3s were registered. Between them they claimed almost 50 per cent of the segment, with the rest shared between the Evoque, Volvo XC60, Land Rover's discontinued Freelander, Porsche Macan and BMW X4. Land Rover's Discovery Sport is sure to become a third segment heavyweight in its first full year of sales this year.

If it sells 4000 examples per annum, the GLC would be Benz’s number three seller behind the C-Class, which attracted 5845 Aussies last year, and A-Class (4676).

The availability of right-hand drive was acknowledged during the presentation by Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche as a graphic flashed up behind him showing a kangaroo in the colours of an Australian flag – as well as a New Zealand Kiwi and a Union Jack heart.

 “We want to lead that segment the GLC plays in,” Mercedes-Benz Australia spokesman Jerry Stamoulis told motoring.com.au.

“This car has the potential to be in our top five sellers, easily, in Australia.

“It is one of our most important new model launches on Australia in years.”

Benz has yet to nail down final pricing or the model line-up for the GLC, but both could be sorted and announced within a month as it seeks to build interest in the vehicle among Australian buyers. The international GLC media launch will be held this time next month.

“We haven’t pushed a register your interest because no-one had seen the car.,” Stamoulis explained. “But now that the pictures are out we are looking for people to register their interest.”

The GLC should line up pretty squarely against the Q5 and X5 on price, both of which are priced from under $63,000 and extend to almost $78,000, excluding the hot-shot SQ5 ($91,700).

Pricing in that range will also fit the GLC, which should be only slightly more expensive than the C-Class at base level ($60,900), into Benz’s SUV range neatly between the smaller GLA (from $48,300) and larger GLE, which replaces Mercedes' top-selling SUV, the M-Class (from $83,900), here in September. The latest C-Class Estate also arrives here before it, in November.

“It will be generously equipped,” Stimoulis promised. “Similar to what we have done with C-Class. Standard specification is very important. We don’t want people to have tick lots of boxes to get a certain specification."

The main question in terms of line-up is whether an entry-level GLC 220d 4MATIC turbo-diesel will join the guaranteed launch line-up of GLC 250 petrol and diesel models.

The other mainstream member of the range unveiled so far, the GLC 350e petrol-electric hybrid, is currently not available to Australia because it is being built in left-hand drive only.

“This could change as early as next year,” said Stamoulis. “But we are still waiting on that.

“We think it would fit in with what we are planning,” he said, referring to the arrival of the C350e, GLE 500e and S500e plug-in hybrids later this year.

He said the decision on the 220 d was mostly centred on internal production issues at the Bremen plant in Germany from where the GLC will be sourced.

“What we will finally take, we will know in the next four weeks,” he confirmed.

Meanwhile, the availability of the Mercedes-AMG GLC 450 Sport and fire-breathing Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 have been separately confirmed to motoring.com.au. Pricing for those models is likely to start in the low $100,000s and around $160,000s respectively.

Stamoulis forecast GLC buyers would come from both inside and outside the Benz brand.

“We expect some people to come from other brands, but we can also see people coming out of the C-Class sedan and Estate and maybe even the ML.”

If the GLC does hit the sort of sales numbers Benz is expecting, even with substitutional sales it will almost certainly propel the luxury market leader into the top 10 selling brands overall, as well as ensuring it maintains it sales position locally ahead of Audi and BMW.

“Being number one overall is not our priority,” Stamoulis said. “Being in the top 10 is not a priority. We don’t discuss it internally.”