New Mercedes

Mercedes' new Project Fascination – easily the best-looking car from Stuttgart in a long while – took centre stage on Daimler's stand, followed by the new S400 Blue Hybrid, a grenade-proof Pullman stretch limo, en electric smart and a new biturbo diesel. A busy stand. No wonder it took almost half an hour to unveil them all! Tell me more about the Fascination concept Well, Mercedes boss Dieter Zetsche didn't add a great deal more to what we already know about the Merc Fascination once he'd driven the concept onto the stage. Penned by new design director Gordon Wagener, the Fascination previews the 2009 E-class but interestingly the car is badged as a concept rather than Mercedes' usual 'Vision' which normally indicates a very lightly disguised production car. Insiders claim the Fascination's face will make it onto the more athletic E-Class coupe – the CLK name is due to be dropped – and if the response is strong enough, this coupe shooting brake bodystyle is also on the cards. By Ben Whitworth