January 2016 |TOPCAR.CO.ZA 55Road test: Mercedes-BenzGLE 450 AMG Coupe
IFE IS
CONSTANTLY
changing. Not a very
profound thought, I
know, but all you
need do is take a look
through your kitchen
cupboards to see what
I mean. In there you
may find a brightly coloured box of
Futurelifebreakfast ‘cereal’. Aside from the
smart font and the promise of a few more
Omegas, how much does it really differ
from a box ofJungle Oats? The same goes
for that once-white, now pale-yellow
blender in the bottom draw – not much
different from a shiny metallicNutribullet,
is it? They both blend stuff, surely.
It all boils down to an issue of packaging
and brand attribution... and, of course,
newer is better. Product developers the
world over know it’s the one with th e slickdesign and clearly defined market ing
message you want. Exactly the same
thinking now appl ies to the once-humble
SUV.Annex the SUV
The idea of a four-d oor coupe started with
sedans a decade ago before spreading to
SUVs with th e first BMW X6.Now there’s
Merc’s GLE Coupe, soon tobe joined by the
smaller GLC Coupe. I take no umbrage
with th e idea – if your job is scribbling cars
for a living at a design studio in Los
Angeles, how else are you going to enliven
the old, slab-sided SUV. Anyone who’s seen
an older-generation ML will immediately
recognise it’s the knackered blender in the
bottom draw desper ately in need of a
makeover. I know judging the aesthetics
can be su bjective, but there’s no doubtthe
GLE Coupe turns heads. While I’ll admit
the sheer girth can look ungainly fromL