Coupe version of best-selling Mercedes-Benz SUVs face the axe

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Mercedes-Benz is set to drop the 'coupe' versions of its mid-size GLC – its most popular vehicle – and larger GLE SUVs as the car maker continues to combat slowing sales globally.

German newspaper Handelsblatt reported the GLC Coupe and GLE Coupe SUVs – which use the same mechanicals as the conventionally-styled GLC and GLE SUV ‘wagons’ but with a sloping roofline for a sportier look – could both be axed by 2026.

Mercedes-Benz has not confirmed the move after being approached by Drive.

A battery-electric GLC SUV ‘wagon’ is due to be revealed in 2026 – with an electric EQE SUV already in showrooms – but Handelsblatt says Mercedes-Benz is debating whether to drop the GLC and GLE Coupes or consolidate the two vehicles into a single model.

MORE: What's the difference between the Mercedes-Benz GLC and GLE?

The car maker recently did this with the coupe and convertible versions of the C-Class and E-Class, replacing the cars with a single model, the Mercedes-Benz CLE, available in Coupe and convertible Cabriolet bodies.

The debate comes after a rough first half of 2024 when Mercedes-Benz global sales slid by 6 per cent year-on-year, with revenue down 4.1 per cent and 20 per cent lower profits.

Making up around 15 per cent of global GLC and GLE sales, the first-generation GLC Coupe arrived in Australia in 2016 – a year after the GLE Coupe – and the second-generation models are currently offered in petrol, diesel and hybrid variants including high-performance AMG versions.

Both have suffered year-on-year sales declines, with the GLC Coupe down 12.5 per cent and the GLE Coupe 49.8 per cent lower – but with their wagon siblings suffering similar falls (11.1 per cent and 49.2 per cent respectively).

The ratio of coupe versus wagons sold within each line locally is relatively stable at one-to-two for both, however, but overall Mercedes-Benz Australia sales were down 21 per cent year-on-year by the close of August.

The Mercedes SUV coupe pair are direct rivals to the BMW X4 and BMW X6 – following the same formula, as SUV coupe versions of the BMW X3 and BMW X5.

BMW is reportedly planning to replace the current petrol X4 with the battery-electric iX4 in late 2026.

It will keep the existing X4 in showrooms until its electric replacement's arrival, being sold alongside a new-generation petrol-powered X3 due in Australia in 2025.

MORE: BMW X4 to be replaced by electric iX4, eventually – report

This would be consistent with BMW's flagship electric SUV – the X5-sized iX – which is sold in wagon form and does not have a coupe version.

Australian sales of the X4 and the X6 have increased year-on-year by 2.7 per cent and 26.6 per cent respectively but make up an even smaller proportion of sales against the wagon stablemates.

Four times as many X3s were sold compared to X4s in the first half of 2024, with the BMW X5 outselling the X6 by a factor of six over the same period.

Mercedes-Benz revised its electric-car strategy early in 2024 and has recently pared back production of its luxury EQS electric sedan – and the petrol S-Class – citing a fall in global luxury car sales.

The post Coupe version of best-selling Mercedes-Benz SUVs face the axe appeared first on Drive.