Marketed as a 'four door coupe,' the Mercedes-Benz CLS recalls the fastback saloon designs of Robert Opron (born 1932) in the 1970s but is actually the work of the influential American automotive designer, Michael Fink (born 1967) who styled the first CLK, the C-Sportcoupe', and is known as the stylist who penned the Maybach 57 and 62. According to a Mercedes-Benz press release, the Mercedes-Benz CLS was produced to combine the "strong, emotive charisma" of a coupe with the "comfort and practicality" of a saloon. Save for its four-door design, the CLS's design tends towards a coupe, as its sleek roofline reduces the rear passenger room to a 2+2 arrangement, and it offers a smaller selection of engines tending towards high powered of the range, compared to contemporary sedans such as the E-Class. The Mercedes-Benz CLS name also caused some to confuse it as the four-door version of the CL-Class, the full-sized coupe based on the S-Class. Due to the popularity of the CLS-Class, other manufacturers are offering similar four-door fastback sedans, such as the Volkswagen Passat CC, Citroen C6 and Honda Civic.
